City officials are working with the Bartholomew County Health Department to hash out details of a possible county-wide mask mandate that could be in place by the end of the week.
The mandate would largely focus on requiring masks in indoor spaces in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the community, but city and county officials are discussing what kinds of exceptions would be allowed and are “taking a real close look” at similar orders in Monroe and Marion counties, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop said Tuesday.
The order requiring masks, however, would come from the Bartholomew County Health Department, not the mayor’s office, Lienhoop said.
“We’re talking it over. No final decision has been made, although I expect one yet this week,” he said. “If we go forward, the notion would be to make an announcement later this week.”
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“If we’re going to do it, I’d try to get it in place before the weekend,” Lienhoop added. “But I don’t know whether that means Thursday or Friday, but if we’re going to do it, it’s going to be later this week.”
If the health department decides to move ahead with a mask mandate, Bartholomew County would join a growing list of counties across the state that have imposed such requirements — including Elkhart, LaGrange, Lake, LaPorte, Marion, Monroe and St. Joseph counties.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb has repeatedly declined to issue a statewide mandate even while encouraging face masks as the state has seen recent growth in the number of coronavirus infections and hospitalizations.
There were 803 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Indiana on Monday, down from 881 on July 14, but still 35% higher than on June 26, when 595 were hospitalized, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
A total of five people were hospitalized with the virus at Columbus Regional Hospital on Monday, county health officials said. By comparison, the average number of hospitalizations at CRH during the month of June was 3.8, but had declined to 1.4 during the latter half of the month.
The overwhelming consensus among health experts is that masks are an effective way of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and could help avoid tens of thousands of preventable deaths across the country.
Earlier this week, Indiana’s second-largest county and one of the largest Indianapolis suburbs adopted face mask mandates for residents and businesses, according to The Associated Press.
The mandates throughout northwestern Indiana’s Lake County took effect Monday, while the order for the city of Fishers just northeast of Indianapolis will take effect Friday, according to wire reports.
Lake County’s health department issued the requirement for mouth and nose face covering inside a businesses or other public places where people cannot maintain at least 6 feet of social distancing, The Associated Press reported.
Mask requirements have been issued for the cities of Indianapolis, Evansville and West Lafayette, along with LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart and LaGrange counties in northern Indiana and Monroe County, which includes Bloomington and Indiana University’s main campus.
The Marion County order, which went into effect July 9, requires people over the age of 2 to wear a face covering when in an indoor space other than their own home or when they are outdoors and cannot maintain six feet of physical distance from others, according to a copy of the order.
The order, however, does not apply to individuals who are hearing or speaking impaired, people traveling in their own vehicles or engaging in outdoor physical exercise, individuals who cannot wear a face covering for a physical, medical or health-related reason, among other exceptions, the order states.
Failing to comply with a county health order could result in a fine of up to $1,000, according to The Indianapolis Star. As of this past Thursday, no citations had been in issued in Marion County.
Dr. Brian Niedbalski, county health officer, told Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. school board members Monday night the city and county were considering the mask mandate as part of the community response to the COVID-19 pandemic. BCSC students will be required to wear masks in school when schools are scheduled to reopen on Aug. 6, according to a revised reopening plan approved Monday night by the board.
Niedbalski did not respond to requests seeking comment on Tuesday.
Currently, it is unclear how Bartholomew County officials would choose to enforce a mandate. Lienhoop, for his part, said “it’s way too early” to determine how such an order would be enforced in Columbus.
“Initially, we would want to understand what kind of compliance we get without having to resort to enforcement,” Lienhoop said. “To me, I liken it to speed limits. If we post a speed limit on a street and compliance is high, then we never have to concern ourselves with enforcement because people have done what we’ve asked them to do. Again, if the speed limit is 30 miles an hour and somebody is going 32, we pretty well accept that. If you’re going 42, we’d like to talk to you and have a conversation about what the limit is.”
