Mask order in eastern Jackson County extended one month as vaccination rate sags
The Jackson County Legislature voted 6-2 Monday to extend the county’s mask order another 30 days.
The decision was met with heckling from some members of the sparsely attended meeting who vowed “we’re not going away” as legislators moved on to other items on the meeting agenda.
The party-line vote saw the lone two Republican legislators, Theresa Galvin and Jeanie Lauer, oppose extending the mask order until 11:59 p.m. Nov. 6. It had been set to expire this Thursday at a minute before midnight.
But legislators Jalen Anderson, Tony Miller and Crystal Williams said COVID-19 still poses too much of a threat for the county to let its guard down now. They were joined in supporting the extension by Ron Finley, Scott Burnett and Charlie Franklin. Their fellow Democrat, chairman Dan Tarwater, was absent.
The order applies any age 5 and older in rural and urban areas outside the city limits of Kansas City and Independence, which have their own health departments. Kansas City has a mask order, but Independence does not.
County Executive Frank White and the county’s health director, Bridgette Shaffer, had recommended an extension, which under a new state law requires that local governing bodies vote on whether to lengthen health orders beyond the initial 30 days. This is the second extension since the county reinstated its mask requirements in August.
The county let its previous mask order lapse in May, following guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The county reversed course when infections and hospitalizations began to rise again, which health officials blamed on the highly transmissible Delta variant and the reluctance by some to get vaccinated against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Shaffer told legislators that only 47 percent of those eligible to receive the vaccines, people 12 and older, in Jackson County have been fully vaccinated.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt called Monday’s action “yet another bold-faced attempt by bureaucrats to exert power over the people of Jackson County. “
Schmitt, a Republican, filed suit in August challenging the county’s mask order and has filed similar lawsuits against Kansas City, St. Louis and St. Louis County.
“Our lawsuit continues,” Schmitt said in a written statement, “and we will continue to fight back against government overreach. The people of Missouri are citizens, not subjects.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 11:46 AM.
