Masks will be required in KC for weeks to come. Here’s how long the mandate may last
People in Kansas City will be required to wear masks through at least mid-August as Mayor Quinton Lucas extends his order for the duration of the city’s COVID-19 state of emergency.
The state of emergency is set to expire on Aug. 15, but if it is extended, the city’s mask mandate will be extended alongside it, said Morgan Said, a spokeswoman for Lucas.
Lucas’s office said Thursday that the mayor would announce the extension and the city’s “next steps in COVID-19 response efforts” at a news conference outside City Hall on Friday morning.
The extension comes as the Kansas City metro area continues to report higher daily increases of COVID-19 cases. 370 new cases were reported Thursday, and the area’s seven-day rolling average for new cases is 290.
The order, which went into effect on June 29, was set to expire on Sunday after two weeks.
Under the order, all employees or visitors to indoor public spaces in Kansas City must wear masks when they are “in an area or while performing an activity which will necessarily involve close contact or proximity to co-workers or the public where six feet of separation is not feasible.”
Businesses are asked to deny entry to people who do not wear masks, and the city health department enforced the order through complaints.
Some are exempt from the order, including:
- Minors, with strong guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kansas City Health Department that children over age 2 wear face coverings.
- People with disabilities that prevent them from comfortably wearing or taking off face coverings or communicating while wearing face coverings.
- People with respiratory conditions or breathing trouble.
- People who have been told by a medical, legal, or behavioral health professional not to wear face coverings.
- People seated in a restaurant or tavern who are consuming food or drink while adequately distanced from other patrons.
Wyandotte County, Jackson County and the state of Kansas have issued their own mask orders in the last two weeks. Although Kansas’s order could be overturned by county governments, the Johnson County Commission voted to leave it in place.
Platte and Clay counties in Missouri did not issue mask mandates.
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
