Manhattan will not require face masks in public spaces in an effort to further prevent the spread of COVID-19, instead opting to look at other ways to encourage residents to abide by health and safety guidelines.
City commissioners Tuesday via Zoom discussed a potential ordinance or resolution, first proposed for discussion out of health concerns by Mayor Usha Reddi as Kansas prepared to begin its process to re-open businesses and public spaces shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. No vote was held as the item was to generate discussion and feedback, but no commissioner expressed support for an ordinance and a majority including Reddi opposed a resolution.
The Centers for Disease Control and Kansas Department of Health and Environment currently recommend wearing cloth face coverings when six-foot physical distancing cannot be maintained in public. The World Health Organization differs and doesn’t advise healthy individuals wear masks.
“I’m not saying we’re going to have 100 percent compliance,” Reddi said at the May 5 commission meeting. “But I do think there is room for discussion in our community with stakeholders at the table like we did vaping, like we did the no-smoking ordinance, like we did texting [and driving].”
Following the initial proposal, numerous residents and community organizations weighed in on the idea of a mask ordinance. The leadership of the Emergency Operations Center overseeing the county’s pandemic response as well as Kansas State University’s president and the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce opposed mandating face coverings — instead supporting a resolution encouraging following health guidelines including wearing masks.
Reddi, though, says those guidelines are “useless” if nobody abides by them — even when encouraged. She says many are doing just that, potentially spreading virus-infected droplets in public, and that the city has a responsibility to safeguard the public’s health. Reddi wasn’t interested in an ordinance or resolution requiring or encouraging face covering, though, feeling an ordinance could be too punitive and that a resolution did too little. Instead, she sought ideas from the commission on other ways Manhattan can promote compliance with health guidelines and good health among the community.
“Is it a PSA, […] should we have more picture boards around the city?” says Reddi. “What can we do to make sure people are aware of how to do these things? It doesn’t have to be a face mask mandate, it doesn’t even have to be a resolution.”
She brought up ideas like providing free face coverings to mandating city employees wear them, installing hand washing or sanitizing stations in unspecified public locations, or beginning public education campaigns.
“I want to know if — in a future discussion — we have some money, can we put hand sanitizers here and there? Can we put soap and water where people are washing their hands?”
Mayor Pro Tempore Wynn Butler warned that hand washing stations can take a lot of maintenance to keep clean, saying they’d be better off with hand sanitizer dispensers.
He also expressed opposition for a mask ordinance and resolution for multiple reasons. First, he says that passing an ordinance or resolution would break unity of command under the emergency management system and that their job isn’t to go against the EOC in this time. Further, Butler says he’s heard a lot of community opposition and seen a lot of misuse of masks during his limited outings. Butler says ultimately the choice should be left in the hands of businesses and individuals.
“I just believe that there just is no real definitive answer one way or the other on masks, the enforcement issue is crazy and a lot of people think it’s a violation of their liberty,” says Butler. “It gets back to that argument of what’s more important, your safety or your liberty? And I think Ben Franklin came down on the side of liberty and that’s where I’m at.”
Commissioner Mark Hatesohl says the mayor should use her bully pulpit to convince the community to wear masks, but questioned whether the public would be swayed. He echoed Butler, noting that he thinks a resolution would be redundant as the CDC and KDHE are already making recommendations to that same effect. Additionally, he says people will only follow laws if they see value in them and that he thinks it would be hard to demonstrate the value in additional recommendations or mandates while the rate and percent of positive tests in Riley County are falling.
“I think we should be spending our time getting the basketball goals back up, getting the tennis nets and volleyball nets back up, figuring out if we can get the pool re-opened,” says Hatesohl. “That’s what people want the city commission, the city staff and the city working on.”
Hatesohl says the commission should leave the situation to health officials and the EOC, with which Butler agreed. Commissioner Aaron Estabrook, though, says a resolution directing residents to trusted health information is in the city’s “lane,” but that mandating face coverings would be “absolutely inappropriate.” He says Manhattan should find ways to incentivize following guidelines without issuing mandates, including the sanitation programs mentioned by Reddi.
“We can’t take a hammer to change behavior,” says Estabrook. “Anyone whose had kids understands how that works.”
Commissioner Linda Morse called the resolution an innocent recommendation, though she doesn’t see an ordinance having the desired effect due to public opposition to mandates. Even reaching just 50 people is worth it, according to Morse.
“It’s up to each of us to keep ourselves safe, but it’s also up to each of us to try to keep from harming anyone else,” says Morse. “And that’s where I think there’s a moral kind of a mission that we should be on.”
City Manager Ron Fehr says the education element was discussed at Tuesday’s Chamber of Commerce board meeting. He says there is an effort to produce a public service campaign for the region in collaboration with K-State officials.
“Something like that that we target to different audiences, but specifically to the students that we can send them [and say]here’s what we’re doing in Manhattan to make your return safe and here’s a bottle of MHK/K-State hand sanitizer and when you come back here’s coupons for more types of safety equipment,” says Fehr. “Maybe we even work with some of our distilleries to produce larger quantities of hand sanitizer and make pumps available or individual packets you can take and slip into your pocket.”
Fehr told commissioners those are all efforts the city can consider or assist others in tackling going forward. Reddi was interested in the suggestions, though also again said she thinks greater use of face coverings in the community would have a positive health impacts. She says she thinks as more designer or team-based masks become available, their acceptance may grow.
Butler also mentioned there was a plan to put a purple mask on the Johnny Kaw statute at the beginning of the pandemic response, but after backlash around the nation to face covering laws there has been fear it would lead to vandalism.
Commissioner Aaron Estabrook also proposed a program that recognizes businesses that partner with them in promoting or requiring masks as a softer way to incentivize abiding by health guidelines in the city.
“I’m happy, I think it was a very productive discussion,” says Reddi. “I feel like we are going to be proactive. […] And I do feel the actions that Ron [Fehr] had mentioned as well as Wynn and everybody else on here is the direction I want us to go — I’d rather have this discussion than not have a conversation at all.”
The commission will further discuss efforts Manhattan can take to promote health and health guidelines at a future meeting. Click here to read public comments for this item.
Originally posted at https://1350kman.com/manhattan-squashes-possible-mask-ordinance-to-pursue-psas-and-other-health-campaigns/
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