23 Kansas counties have added mask mandates since Gov. Laura Kelly announced new order
On the eve of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s new statewide mask order going into effect, many more counties are welcoming the mandates than did so following her previous attempt to gain compliance this summer.
Twenty-three counties have adopted a mandate since the Democratic governor announced the new statewide requirement last Wednesday. The number of pro-mask counties is now almost double the number that adopted one following Kelly’s first order in July.
At least 50 of 105 counties have adopted a mandate so far. A list of local actions, compiled by the Kansas Association of Counties, show that many jurisdictions opposed to the requirement are now embracing it as COVID-19 cases soar and hospitals buckle under the weight of a flood of patients.
The counties with mandates span the state and reflect a growing willingness on the part of local officials in both urban and rural areas to take more aggressive action to slow the spread of the virus. The new restrictions also come ahead of Thanksgiving, which health experts fear will fuel a new wave of infections.
In the Kansas City area, Miami County is adopting a mask requirement after previously resisting one. Leavenworth County continues to not have a mandate, however.
Counties that take no action will be automatically covered by Kelly’s order at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Counties can opt out of the order and some have done so. Others have approved their own mandate, which Kelly is allowing counties to keep if they are in place by the deadline.
The total number of counties that will come under the statewide order by default wasn’t clear Tuesday as county commissions were continuing to meet. It appeared certain, though, that at least some will because local officials didn’t take action to block it.
The governor, speaking to reporters Tuesday, said adoption of mask orders by counties had so far been “pretty good.”
“We got very little pushback this time around,” Kelly said. “I think it’s because people are so much more aware of how serious this is, how widespread it is. And it is no longer and urban issue, I mean it’s clearly from border to border.”
Kansas on Monday reported 7,526 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend and an additional 46 deaths (the next report is Wednesday). Current virus hospitalizations on Monday dropped to 896 on Monday from a record high of 1,048 over the weekend, according to the COVID-19 Tracking Project.
Hospitals across the state are struggling with staffing shortages caused by the virus. Forty-six percent of hospitals anticipate staffing shortages over the next week, according to Kansas Hospital Association data. Just 22% of staffed intensive care beds in Kansas remained available as of Monday, with regional rates as low as 9% in the southwest. In the Kansas City metro, the rate hovered at 17%.
“Our numbers were kind of awful over the weekend,” Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, said Tuesday during a media briefing. The hospital hit a record 100 patients with active COVID-19 cases on Monday, but the number fell slightly to 93 on Tuesday.
Riley County illustrates the shift some counties have undergone. The county, home to Manhattan and Kansas State University, opted out of the July mask order, though the City of Manhattan quickly approved its own. But Riley’s health officer on Monday issued a countywide order after recording nearly 1,000 cases over the past month.
“We are seeing a lot of community spread in Riley County, and it was clear that a county-wide mask mandate was needed,” the health officer, Julie Gibbs, said in a statement.
Despite some criticism from the Riley County Commission, including by Commissioner Marvin Rodriguez, who likened the mandates to Nazi Germany, the commission didn’t override the order during its Monday meeting.
Kelly’s push for compliance coincides with a new public campaign urging mask use, spearheaded by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Kansas Farm Bureau, Kansas Hospital Association and Kansas Medical Society.
The coalition’s first ad, released Monday, shows an older man holding up a mask while saying, “this is a tool. It says nothing about my politics. I wear it to protect the people that I love.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 1:07 PM.
