Mask mandate signed by mayor
Must be covered entering public indoor spaces
Once again, masks are officially required for people entering public indoor spaces in the city of Columbus.
For the second time since July 2020, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther signed an executive order Friday to mandate that people wear masks when visiting publicly accessible indoor spaces – such as a restaurant, retail store or movie theater – to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
The order, which is comparable to the one from a year ago, comes just as coronavirus cases are surging citywide and across the country because of the more aggressive delta variant and other factors.
On Friday, the day the order was signed and went into effect, Ohio reported 9,019 cases and 261 hospitalizations, including 19 intensive care unit admissions.
Ginther’s mandate mentioned the
strain on the area’s hospital systems because of the rising number of patients with COVID-19 as a reason behind the mask requirement.
“Staffing levels in central Ohio hospital systems are alarmingly low, taxing the ability of hospitals to provide COVID-19 care while tending to the community’s other critical health care needs,” the order reads.
The mandate states that masks should be worn by customers and employees in areas of businesses that are accessible to and intended for use by the public.
Columbus Metropolitan Library announced that visitors to all 23 of its branches will also have to wear masks. The library’s board of trustees held a special session Thursday to adopt the requirement systemwide.
“Fifteen of our 23 locations are located within the Columbus city limits, so those 15 were obviously under that city-wide order,” said library spokesman Ben Zenitsky. “The board decided to take the extra step to mandate it system-wide.”
Columbus’ new order does allow people to take masks off when eating and drinking. That’s a practice bars and restaurants know very well at this point. Previous statewide orders required customers to be masked other than when seated, eating and drinking.
There are a few other key exemptions included in the order.
Those include children under 6, those participating in physical activity (coaches and referees, too), performers or speech givers, those in religious buildings and law enforcement officers engaged in their duties outside an office or business-type setting.
Whether or not performers and musicians would be exempt was a cause for concern earlier in the week when the mayor’s decision to re-enact a mask mandate was announced.
“I appreciate the city’s willingness to listen and understand why that’s so important to us,” said Chad Whittington, president and chief executive officer of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts, which owns and operates the Ohio, Southern, Lincoln and other theaters. “We have a lot of protocols in place to keep people safe, and we’ll continue to work at that, but we really needed (the exemption).”
Shadowbox Live, which reports that all but one of its staff members and performers has been fully vaccinated, applauded the new city policy allowing actors, singers and dancers to perform unmasked.
“We are incredibly grateful and relieved,” said Katy Psenicka, chief operations officer for Brewery District venue and ensemble troupe. “This is really huge for us because the sound quality is different with masks ... It would have been time-consuming for us to go back and remix every singer on every song in both of our shows.”
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.
Counties, however, don’t have the authority to institute mask orders like the executive order signed by Ginther on Friday.
That’s why the Franklin County Board of Commissioners voted Thursday to call on local governments in the county “to follow science and require masks to be worn in all indoor and crowded outdoor spaces.”
The county board also recently voted to require that all county employees who are not vaccinated be tested for COVID-19 twice weekly.
Some municipalities, such as Bexley and Whitehall, have already announced their own mask ordinances. Other nearby cities, including Athens, Gambier and Yellow Springs have done the same.
According to the Columbus order, citations can only be given to those businesses or organizations failing to enforce face coverings.
Law enforcement are not authorized to criminally enforce masks against individual workers, customers or patrons. However, they can intervene when a business or organization denies entry to someone refusing to wear a mask and that person will not leave the premises.
Like previous orders, enforcement will fall on citizens reporting to Columbus Public Health through the 311 phone line.
“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.”
Dispatch reporters Ken Gordon, Michael Grossberg and Peter Tonguette contributed to this article. award@dispatch.com @Allisonaward