Palm Beach a holdout on masks

County still on sidelines while others set public requirements

If you really don’t want to wear a mask, there’s a place you can go.

You can go to Palm Beach County.

Despite rising numbers of coronavirus cases — and despite criticism about reopening businesses too soon — Palm Beach County has sat on the sidelines as other local governments have required people to wear masks in public places.

Masks are required for both patrons and business employees in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. They’ll be required starting Saturday in Orange County, including Orlando. Tampa, St. Petersburg, the Keys … they all announced mask orders this week.

For that matter, California’s health department announced Thursday that all of the state’s 40 million residents must cover their faces in “most settings outside the home.”

Palm Beach County? They’re thinking about it.

County commissioners considered the idea this week and agreed to talk some more on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Florida continues to set records for new cases of COVID-19.

Friday, the state announced that 3,822 new people had contracted the illness, the most ever for one day. The day before, the total was 3,207, a record that lasted all of one day.

Palm Beach County showed 262 new cases Friday — and more than 10,000 since the pandemic began, the third most in Florida.

Nevertheless, Palm Beach County was the first in South Florida to end its coronavirus lockdown and enter a Phase 1 reopening, despite not meeting all federal guidelines. It allowed its beaches to open on Me

morial Day weekend, while beaches remained empty elsewhere in South Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis went along with it, and he’s not offering much guidance now about masks. In response to questions Friday, he said he wouldn’t require masks statewide. He’s leaving the decision to local officials.

Palm Beach County has required masks only in government buildings and on buses. Next week will determine if anything changes.

County Commissioner Hal R. Valeche, concerned about personal liberties, spoke against a mask mandate at the last public meeting. Now he said he’s had a change of heart after consulting with physicians who told him he was making a well-intentioned mistake.

“We’ve resisted it for as long we can because we tried to not be heavy handed,” said Valeche, who had advocated for restaurants, salons, and malls to open in Phase 1.

Now, “my view is changing” on masks, he said.

The doctor Valeche talked to cited a case where an infected person, wearing a mask, had not made anyone else sick.

“We’ve had a bad string of days with cases, positivity rates, we have to do something,” Valeche said. “I think it would be pretty irresponsible to just sit there and watch these numbers” climb. I was hoping we’d have more voluntary compliance.”

County Commissioner Gregg Weiss proposed the mask mandate this week, saying, “What we are doing right now is not working.”

On Friday, he said residents are getting mixed messages from politicians who are telling them to go about their business even as the coronavirus continues to infect people.

He said he’s seen photos of people gathered with no social distancing and no masks. “That’s what’s driving this to have to make this decision. Sometimes people need extra help to make the decision.”

“At this point we have to try to figure out how to slow the spread. We can live a good quality of life until a vaccine is found, but we have to change the things we are doing.”

Commissioners thought public education would be sufficient, said Commissioner Mack Bernard. Now he’s voting yes for a mask mandate, too.

“I believe that’s a direction we should go toward so we can protect the health, safety and welfare of our residents in the county,” he said. “It’s the best way for us to live with the virus until we are able to get a vaccine. What we don’t want [is] to go to a place where we have to shut down our businesses. In order [not] to do that, we have to protect the residents and protect those businesses.”

Commissioner Melissa McKinlay said she’s expecting some opposition in the community. “Whether it’s seatbelts or bicycle helmets, no matter what the mandate is, you get pushback.”

Still, she wants the masks. Her aunt, in Houston, came home from the hospital Thursday after a nearly four-month battle with the coronavirus.

“Our numbers are alarming and I would like to not make things worse,” McKinlay said.

County Mayor Dave Kerner also will vote in favor of the masks in indoor spaces and wants to mimic the rules put in place by “our colleagues to the south.”

“I don’t think there was a political will” until now, he said. “Anytime government imposes restrictions on personal liberty, we have to do our due diligence.”

The U.S. has almost 2.2 million coronavirus cases, the most of any country in the world. Overall, 89,748 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus illness in Florida. South Florida, home to 29% of Florida’s population, accounts for 50.1% of the cases, with 44,980 total.

“We’ve progressed to a point in community spread that multiple things need to be done,” Mayor Kerner said. “Personal safety comes first.”

Staff Writer Wayne Roustan contributed to this report.