Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is trying hard not to antagonize with new mask mandate

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is doing her damnedest to get her constituents to save their own lives. And this time, she’s trying harder to do that without upsetting them.

So yes, she’s issued another statewide mask order in response to the current spike in COVID-19 cases. This one will go into effect next Wednesday, Nov. 25.

But unlike the order she issued in July, which many counties promptly rejected, this one gives local officials “the flexibility to make sure it works best for them,” a Kelly spokesman said. Only about a quarter of Kansas counties have any order in effect now.

It’s more than slightly ridiculous that Kelly has to take the “Hey kids, would you like the carrots or the peas?” approach to getting counties to do what’s so obviously the right thing. But that the governor is willing to try a more collaborative approach is to her credit. Now let’s just hope it works.

Counties can still opt out, though with the number of new cases so high and the science so clear, maybe this time local officials will put lives and livelihoods above all the “free-to-be-maskless me” political posturing. Perhaps the fact that Kansas hospitals are under so much pressure will change the calculus.

Kelly is calling her new executive order part of an “all-of-the-above approach to slow the spread of the virus and to keep our businesses and our schools open until a vaccine is available for all Kansans.”

That messaging underlines the reality that businesses can’t thrive or even survive amid an out-of-control epidemic.

Counties will have a week to come up with their own mask orders before the statewide mandate goes into effect. If they don’t, they’ll be covered by the state order. Again, unless they opt out.

Hopefully, Kelly’s efforts to work with Republicans on public service announcements and a strategy to get local leaders involved in encouraging masks will put the kibosh on the silly suggestion that trying to keep Kansans safe somehow makes the governor a “wannabe dictator.” And no more offensive Nazi comparisons, OK?

Masks will have to be worn inside or in line to enter any public space or business frequented by the public, and anywhere outdoors where physical distancing of at least 6 feet isn’t possible.

On Wednesday, Kelly said this has been “another abysmal week for virus spread in Kansas. … We reported over 19,000 positive cases of COVID-19 over the seven-day period ending on Monday, with more than 7,000 reported over the weekend alone.”

Topeka’s Stormont Vail Health System has no more room for COVID patients, and Cloud County Health Center in Concordia, Kansas, had to transfer a critical patient by ambulance to Omaha after eight different Kansas hospitals said they were out of beds.

“Remember that we are all in this together,” Kelly said. If local officials choose to see it that way, more Kansans will survive.

This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 4:36 PM.