New mask order will start today
Coverings again required in publicly accessible indoor spaces in Columbus
When the city of Columbus issued its first indoor mask order a year ago in July, it basically relied on the public to spot violators. It was a system that pitted fierce advocates of mask wearing against restaurants and nightclubs that often had to deal with angry customers as well as people who wanted to exercise their personal freedoms.
So how will things change this time, as COVID-19 case numbers continue to surge – Ohio reported 7,897 new virus cases Thursday – despite vaccines being widely available?
Very little, actually.
“The executive order is still being refined. This specific issue has been raised, and we are looking to determine how best to balance the health and well-being of the audience and performers with the desire to allow shows to proceed.”
“It’s going to be complaint-driven,” said Dr. Mysheika W. Roberts, Columbus Public Health commissioner. “When we get complaints, we will go and do compliance checks.”
The mandate will be included in an executive order to be signed by Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and will take effect on Friday.
The mandate is not subject to the state law prohibiting mask mandates, Ginther’s office said, because the law only restricted public health agencies from issuing such orders, not city governments. The Ohio Constitution’s “home rule” powers granted to cities and villages include the authority to make regulations for public health and safety.
Columbus has said that police will not enforce the mandate in public places such as grocery stores, barber shops, movie theaters and retailers. But police can refer complaints and people can call the city’s 311 line with tips about violations.
Masks will once again be required in all publicly accessible indoor spaces in Columbus and pertain to both employees and customers. But the mandate will be enforced on business violators, regardless of employee vaccination status, according to Columbus Public Health.
Franklin County officials are urging residents to wear masks and municipalities to enact facial covering mandates to prevent the further spread of coronavirus.
But counties don’t have the authority, under state law, to institute mask orders, like the executive order announced by Ginther on Wednesday.
According to a statement from
Franklin County Public Health, however, the agency “is now asking all cities and home-rule townships consider executive or legislative action to require masking of everyone in public places, workplaces, restaurants, grocery stores and other indoor community settings.”
The county public health departments don’t have the authority to issue mask orders like last year, because of the passage of Senate Bill 22, which prohibits health departments from doing so.
But that’s not the case for Ohio municipalities. Under Ohio’s Constitution, cities have specific home rule authority, meaning they have certain powers to govern within their corporate boundaries, using laws that may differ from state statute.
Already, officials in Athens, Gambier and Yellow Springs have enacted mask mandates, as hospitalizations have risen in the past two months. The Columbus suburbs of Bexley and Whitehall also followed the capital city’s lead and will instate mandates Friday.
Others, like the city of Delaware and Worthington, have not yet discussed it.
If an order is enacted in Worthington, the city would likely have to create a set of penalties for violators, said Anne Brown, city spokeswoman. Worthington is the only Columbus suburb for which Columbus Public Heath is also responsible. But fines would be specific to each municipality.
Whitehall’s penalty for violating its order, for instance, will be a third-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine for each offense. Violators in Columbus, on the other hand, would face a warning for the first offense, followed by fines of $500 and $1,000 for second or third violations.
Enforcing the mandate in Columbus will fall on a team of 50 registered environmental health specialists for Columbus
Public Health, Roberts said.
The team routinely inspects restaurants, bars that sell food, gyms, grocery stores and retailers that sell food. Inspections occur four times a year for larger, food-intensive operations and annually for smaller locations, she said.
Those inspection will now include checks for mask wearing by employees and others.
In addition to the fines for first- secondand third-time offenders, additional violations could involve legal action, including shut-down orders, Roberts said.
The previous statewide mask order, which lasted 11 months and was lifted in June, resulted in 20 fines of $500 and four $1,000 fines in Columbus, according to health department data.
The new orders, and whiplash effect of new COVID strains, the most widespread being the delta variant, is frustrating to health officials
“Clearly because our cases are going up it’s putting increased demand on our case investigations and epidemiologists. We are spreading our staff pretty thin,” Roberts said
Enforcement of the order, however, should not be affected, she said.
Asked about staff morale, she said, “They’re tired and they want this pandemic to be over.”
“My staff don’t get to escape COVID-19 ... a third of their life is their personal life and the other third is COVID and that is draining.”
Also draining, are the revenues for many arts organizations.
With numerous entertainment events scheduled in the coming weeks, it was unclear whether music and theater groups – would be required to abide by the mask mandate while performing.
In an email to The Dispatch, Melanie Crabill, spokeswoman for Ginther, said that those details are being worked out.
“The executive order is still being refined,” Crabill said. “This specific issue has been raised, and we are looking to determine how best to balance the health and well-being of the audience and performers with the desire to allow shows to proceed.”
Chad Whittington, president and CEO of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA), said Thursday that such a ban “would have an impact on our business if masks were required for all performers – there’s no way around it.”
“You think about instruments, like woodwind and brass-type instruments, and some of the national touring artists, whether they would agree to perform or not with a mask on,” said Whittington who anticipates cancellations this fall if performers were required to be masked.
“I think there would be significant pushback from the performers,” he said. “We’re having those conversations with the city, and I hope we can find a solution that keeps people safe and at the same time allows us to have the performers onstage without masks.”
Gary O’brien, director of communications for the Nationwide Arena and the Schottenstein Center, said that those venues will abide by local, CDC and, in the case of the Schottenstein Center, Ohio State University guidelines.
O’brien said that country star Eric Church, set to perform at Nationwide on Sept. 18, and all other scheduled events will proceed as planned, and that he anticipates masks will not be required for performers but “they are likely to be physically distanced.”
Entertainment freelance writer Peter Tonguette; Dispatch reporters Danae King, Marc Kovac and Micah Walker and USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau staff Jackie Borchardt and Anna Staver contributed to this story. dnarciso@dispatch.com @Deannarciso