The Harrison County Board of Health on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution requiring face coverings in public, setting up the possibility of a mask mandate in a county that lies in strongly conservative and rural western Iowa.
The resolution outlines that face coverings would be required “in public and indoors” in Harrison County, when people can’t stay at least 6 feet away from each other. Masks would be required in places like grocery stores, pharmacies and schools, but not in a person’s own home. The resolution also lays people, places and times exempt, including people who are under 2 years old, while a person is seated at a restaurant or bar and is eating or drinking and while a person is alone or only with family members.
It does not carry any fines for non-compliance. Instead, law enforcement would hand out masks to people not wearing them.
“In the Nebraska nice and the Iowa nice, the idea is if you give people a reasonable rule they follow it because in the Midwest we have a great sense of respect for our neighbors,” said board physician Nathaniel Alvis.
Board members agreed the resolution will be reviewed every 30 days. They emphasized their desire to see the county's two-week infection rate decrease, aiming for it to be under 10 percent before they toss a mandate out, if implemented. As of Wednesday morning, Harrison County’s two-week average infection rate is 20.2 percent, one of the highest in Iowa.
Board member Nicole Carritt said setting a goal like that 10 percent is important, but she also had a concern.
“Doing this and moving forward as a mandate is probably not an appropriate mechanism if we are not going to have enforcement measures in place,” said Carritt, calling the document more of a "policy statement" than a mandate.
“I’m 20 years old and I shouldn’t be scared to come home."Sam Jackson, Creighton University student
The board of health heard a multitude of public comments through Zoom before they voted, which took up most of the more than three-hour-long meeting. At times, more than 150 people were participating in the Zoom meeting. People expressed strong opinions on both sides of the face mask argument, which has become something of a political debate across the country.
A lot of the comments in favor of a mask mandate centered on how wearing a mask helps protect the greater community. Sam Jackson told the board she is a student at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. and is immunocompromised. She said she is afraid to come home to Harrison County to see her family because “I see a lot of people not wearing masks.”
“I’m 20 years old and I shouldn’t be scared to come home,” Jackson said. “And our people above 65 who have preexisting conditions shouldn’t be afraid to go out in the community.”
Various people who spoke against a mandate claimed the county is taking their freedoms away. Laura Soetmelk of Missouri Valley said her brother and sister-in-law both had to wear face masks for work and they wore them outside of work as well, she said. They social distanced, yet they still became infected by the coronavirus, so they’ve since chosen not to wear masks. Individuals should be able to make their own decisions about wearing them, Soetmelk said.
“America is free and we’re free because we chose to be free,” Soetmelk said. “… And basically you’re trying to take that freedom away. We are adults, we can make our own decisions. And let those that want to wear a mask wear a mask and leave the rest of us alone.”
A few health professionals gave their opinions on whether or not to mandate masks. A couple of the comments and critiques led to some people clamoring over Zoom's chat function to donate each of their allotted two minutes of public comment time to the health experts to give them more time to speak.
“We all want the same thing. We want healthy people. We want to get back to living life,” said Omaha chiropractor Ben Tapper, who does not support a mask mandate. “That’s what we’re all trying to debate here: what’s the best route to take?”
Tapper said his “two cents is that we need to carry on. We don’t need to live in this fear mongering. I always taught that fear is the fire that fuels the furnace of disease. If we give into this fear and cower to this fear and give up our freedoms and liberties to this whole virus, we’re going to lose precious freedoms.”
Leslie Collins, a nurse at Nebraska Medicine, said though she understands the thought that personal freedoms are being taken away, "I struggle every day," she said. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 15 people in Harrison County since the county public health department reported the first COVID-19-related death on Aug. 10.
“I see a lot of people at work that are really sick and I see people die,” Collins said. “We’ve lost 11 people in five days and I know it’s a small percentage, right? I don’t really care what the small percentage is.”
Collins continued, “And I'm sorry, I don't believe that wearing a cloth mask or surgical mask is really a big thing to ask people to do if it's going to help maybe slow this down so that we can keep our economy open, so that we can keep our kids in school.”
"We are adults, we can make our own decisions. And let those that want to wear a mask wear a mask and leave the rest of us alone.”Laura Soetmelk, Missouri Valley resident
Harrison County, which has a population of about 14,000, has seen a spike in coronavirus cases over the last few weeks. The county has 677 total cases as of Wednesday. Close to half of the cases are considered recovered.
But the county currently has the most cases in long term care facilities compared to every other county in Iowa. Three of the Harrison County’s four long term care facilities are in outbreak status. There are 251 total positive cases among staff and residents in the three Harrison County long term care facilities. Just more than 100 are considered recovered.
Harrison County Home and Public Health Administrator Brad Brake told IPR that everyone in the long term care centers is already wearing masks, but the issue centers on workers, many of whom are high school students, bringing the virus into the facilities.
“Even if they're wearing a mask when they're out in the community, at the grocery store, at school, everyone around them maybe isn't,” Brake said. “So then they're picking it up in the community and then they’re bringing it into the care facility.”
Several Iowa counties and cities have established mask mandates, though Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has said local governments don’t have the legal authority to issue their own mask orders. Various members of the public pointed to this during the Harrison County Board of Health Meeting. Michael Kean, a pharmacy technician, was one of them.
“If you guys don't have the authority to do this and you try to pass this, you will be held responsible at the end if a suit is filed,” Kean said. “And that needs to be made perfectly clear because there are business owners in here, doctors, professionals, and people in the local area who will raise a suit or some sort of response if you do pass this.”
The Harrison County mask resolution heads to the county board of supervisors Thursday and will become a countywide mandate if approved.
