Leavenworth County town votes to implement mask requirement after county rejects order
The Tonganoxie City Council voted Thursday to make the town the latest in Leavenworth County to require the use of masks in public spaces after the county opted out of Gov. Laura Kelly’s statewide order.
Though it is unclear at this point when the mask ordinance will go into effect, councilman Jacob Dale said Thursday that the council had approved the measure on a 3-2 vote in a special meeting.
Dale, who voted in favor of the measure, said he was motivated by similar actions in the city of Leavenworth and Lansing. Furthermore, he said, he hoped the measure could play a role in preventing further overwhelming of Kansas City area hospitals.
“Those health care resources being strained in Kansas City will affect us,” he said. “For me it was an opportunity here before the holidays, before Christmas, to do something, to do anything we can to keep some people safe and healthy and out of the Kansas City health care system.”
The move comes two weeks after Leavenworth County opted out of the statewide mask order, making it one of the only counties in the metro area that doesn’t require mask use.
Following the decision, Leavenworth City and Lansing instituted their own mask orders.
Dale said the Tonganoxie order will mirror what was instituted in those cities requiring mask use in indoor public spaces and outdoors where social distancing is not possible. The ordinance includes small fines for residents who do not comply.
The decision comes as the coronavirus spreads rapidly in the Kansas City area. The KC metro area, which includes Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, is averaging more than 1,000 new infections each day.
The University of Kansas Hospital reported 155 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday.
A CDC study published last month showed that counties in Kansas with mask mandates saw a significant drop in COVID-19 cases compared to counties that had no mandate.
Dale said he has already heard from Tonganoxie residents disappointed over the council’s decision to require masks. Despite that, he said he believes it was the right decision.
“The community as are many communities seems pretty divided,” he said. “ I hope that the vast majority of Tonganoxs will cooperate as begrudgingly as they want to.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 9:11 PM.
