DOUGLAS COUNTY TO LEAVE TRI-COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Douglas County officials are planning to leave the Tri-County Health Department over a disagreement on coronavirus mask orders and to form a new and separate health department of its own.
Commissioners on Thursday directed County Attorney Lance Ingalls to opt-out of a forthcoming mask mandate order by TriCounty and to give written notice of intent to withdraw from the health department, according to a news release.
“Effective immediately, our Board directed staff to begin the work of creating a separate public health department that will appropriately meet the needs of Douglas County,” said Roger Partridge, county commissioner and board chairman.
The Tri-County Health Department’s Board of Health voted Wednesday to order a mask requirement across Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties — but offered municipalities within those boundaries the ability to opt out.
John Douglas, the executive director of Tri-County Health, during a video conference meeting, recommended that Douglas County and its municipalities opt in to a mask order only if they chose to do so. Douglas recommended that a mask order not be imposed on Douglas County.
The Tri-County Health board, however, directed Douglas to include the county in its mask order.
“Regarding the mask mandate opt-out, our remarkably favorable public health data, paired with the community’s current 75% mask-wearing voluntary compliance observed by TCHD, and based on Dr. Douglas’ recommendation that a mask mandate was not necessary for Douglas County, led us to this conclusion,” said Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon in the release.
On Thursday, Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas posted a tweet saying that her county will leave Tri-County Health and that the county will be opting out of TriCounty’s “mandatory mask order.”
Thomas also said on Twitter that Douglas County will “develop a public health (department) to meet the needs of our residents.”
In the county board’s news release, Thomas said: “We question the enforceability and efficacy of the mask mandate order, believing that trusting our citizens and business community to continue doing what they do, without a mandate, is the best approach.”
Thursday’s development follows a call in March by Republican state lawmakers from Douglas County who urged their county commissioners to cut ties with Tri-County Health based on a stay-at-home order levied by the health department for Douglas, Arapahoe and Adams counties. The March dispute soon was superseded by the statewide stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Jared Polis.
In May, a Castle Rock restaurant, C&C Coffee and Kitchen, opened its doors to a mostly maskless crowd of customers in defiance of Colorado’s public health orders. The eatery’s business license was suspended, and the owners, Jesse and April Arellano, filed a lawsuit against Polis and state health entities.
In coming to its decision Wednesday, Tri-County health officials found that mask usage is about 80% in Arapahoe County, hovering in the mid-70% range in Douglas County and about 60% in Adams County.
In replying on Twitter to the Thomas post, resident Dennis Huspeni said he was disappointed with the movement to leave TriHealth and the decision to opt out of mandatory mask coverings.
“Short sighted,” Huspeni said. “Face coverings save lives.”
The Thomas tweet, which was posted at 4:47 p.m. Thursday, had 168 likes and 131 retweets and comments at 6:50 p.m. The vast majority of comments were from people, such as Huspeni, who are opposed to opting out of the mask order.
One person commenting, ruffersterjohn, did say: “thanks! proud to live in dougco!”
The next commissioners meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.