Starkville’s requirement for people to wear protective face coverings in city buildings and businesses remains in place indefinitely after aldermen decided at Tuesday’s meeting not to vote on a resolution that would have rescinded it.
Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver proposed the resolution, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and spent several minutes explaining why he wanted the board to approve it. But his motion died when no one seconded, even after Mayor Lynn Spruill asked three times.
In a prepared statement, Carver said he believed the initial goal of citizens and governments nationwide was to “flatten the curve,” or minimize the spread of COVID-19. Now “it seems that many of our leaders are all about preventing anyone and everyone from getting the virus,” he said.
As of Monday, 54 people in Oktibbeha County have died of the virus, as well as 3,027 statewide and more than 210,000 nationwide.
“To borrow from Gov. (Tate) Reeves, let those who are concerned continue to wear masks, and let those of us who aren’t (have) the option to choose,” Carver said.
Businesses have been required since early July to monitor customers both at the entrance and inside their facilities to ensure that all customers over the age of 6 wear masks and that everyone adheres to social distancing. Stores must also provide signs at the door and markers on the floor reminding customers to stay six feet apart.
Reeves enacted a statewide mask mandate in early August and let it expire Sept. 30, although masks are still required in schools and in businesses such as barber shops that require close contact between people.
The city implemented its first mask mandate April 28 after Reeves’ “shelter in place” order, which lasted most of April, ended and some businesses were allowed to reopen. The aldermen initially planned to keep the mandate until May 11 but lifted it May 9 after Reeves allowed more businesses to reopen. Aldermen then re-implemented the mask mandate on July 7.
Carver was the only alderman to vote against both previous city mandates.
“The heavy hand of government should not be allowed to impose on citizens’ personal rights,” he said. “However, if you want to wear a mask every day for the rest of your life, wear a mask while walking alone outside (or) while driving alone in your car, you have every right to do so and I encourage you to do so.”
He repeated a statement he previously told The Dispatch, in which he asked if masks will continue to be required until a COVID-19 vaccine is developed and distributed.
His preferred mandate would be 10 feet of social distancing, instead of six, and the option of wearing a mask, he said. He is not opposed to the idea of wearing masks itself.
“I might wear a mask if you gave me that choice,” he said, taking off his mask to speak while Spruill and the rest of the board left their masks on for the entirety of the board meeting, even while speaking. When Carver did wear his mask, he did not cover his nose with it.
After his proposed resolution died, Carver asked the board for a timeline or a “medical threshold” for when they would consider it safe to lift the mask mandate. Spruill said the board would discuss it at the next work session on Oct. 16, despite Carver’s insistence that they discuss it then and there.
Spruill told The Dispatch after the meeting that she believes the board should “revisit the issue” around Thanksgiving, when the fall semester at Mississippi State University will end and most students will leave town. Until then, she said, the city should follow the guidance of state and national medical experts.
“That is where I rest my reliance, on those who still say to continue to wear masks as a way to fight this virus,” Spruill said.
Citizens’ opinions
Three citizens — William Bell, Walter Okhuysen and Cindy Walker — approached the board during the citizen comment period to share their thoughts on the mask mandate. Walker and Okhuysen expressed support for it, and Bell did not speak for or against it but echoed Carver’s view that the city should have an end goal in mind.
He asked if the goal might be to have no new confirmed cases of the virus, deaths, or hospital patients using ventilators to breathe.
“We know that opening things back up is going to cause a spike. That’s inevitable,” Bell said. “It’s not going to go away, so do we open now and not wear a mask, and then in two weeks wear a mask? What is our long-term goal?”
Bell said he would prefer to “trust the numbers” to determine how much of a threat the virus is, and he appeared out of concern for his elderly mother, for whom he is a full-time caretaker.
Walker is also a caretaker and a nurse, as well as the chairwoman of the community advisory board for OCH Regional Medical Center, and she said she spoke on behalf of Starkville’s senior citizens.
“Residents of our long-term care facilities have not been able to be with their families since March,” Walker said. “I’ve seen physical, mental and emotional decline and even death caused by this social isolation. I’ve seen residents whom I believe have just given up and do not wish to live under these circumstances, and have basically died of broken hearts.”
She implored the board to keep the mask mandate in hopes of meeting the state’s two criteria for long-term care facilities to reopen for visits: the facility must be COVID-free for 28 days, and the weekly case numbers for the county must be in decline for two weeks in a row. Oktibbeha County has yet to meet the second requirement, and Walker said continuing to require masks should help achieve this goal.
She told The Dispatch that she has not seen her grandchildren since March and has walked out of stores in which people are not wearing masks.
“We don’t know when this is going to end, and I don’t think any statistic can be the threshold for making that decision,” Walker said. “To me, wearing a mask is such a small inconvenience, given the benefits that have been proven.”
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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