County health officials bolster mask mandate

Health officials moved forward Tuesday with emergency orders requiring facial coverings in public settings in Franklin County in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

The mask mandate, adopted by the Franklin County Board of Health, is over and above state orders announced this month by Gov. Mike Dewine in counties with rising coronavirus infections.

County Health Commissioner Joe Mazzola said the order would provide a uniform policy across the board’s jurisdiction while the coronavirus pandemic continues, regardless of the county’s rating by the state.

“Franklin County has seen dramatic increases in the number of COVID-19 cases,” said Mazzola, noting that the seven-day rolling average of new cases has increased to 277 per day from 85 one month ago. The county order “gives us a very strong policy across our health jurisdiction. At this point, given where we are … we want to continue to try to do everything we can to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community.”

The county mandate will cover all cities, villages and townships outside of Columbus and Worthington, which fall under the jurisdiction of Columbus Public Health and have their own mask mandates in place.

A number of other communities in Franklin County also have implemented facial covering requirements. Tuesday’s county order would supersede those if it’s more stringent.

Mazzola said the county requirements are consistent with state and local requirements, with masks required (with some exceptions) for business employees and residents at indoor locations outside their homes and outdoors where adequate social distancing is not feasible.

The order notes, “Face coverings can decrease the spread of respiratory droplets from people, and evidence has grown, as shown in numerous recent studies, that the use of face coverings decreases the spread of COVID-19 within populations.”

The county order includes enforcement mechanisms — a warning for first violations, potential minor misdemeanor penalties for subsequent ones — though Mazzola said health officials intent to focus more on education.

The health board was poised to move on the mask order during an emergency meeting earlier this month but postponed the vote after Dewine announced a new state coronavirus rating system that included a mask mandate for certain counties.

Franklin County, which has led the state in COVID-19 infections, has fallen under the state mask order for a couple of weeks, but the state order would ease if local infections decreased and the county’s rating was downgraded.

The county facial covering requirement would remain in place even if the state mandate ended. mkovac@dispatch.com @Ohiocapitalblog