What does Bibb County’s COVID-19 mask mandate mean for Macon residents and visitors?
Residents and visitors of Macon-Bibb County are now required to wear a mask in public to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The Bibb County Board of Commissioners voted to approve a mask mandate at its meeting Tuesday with a vote of 7-2.
Commissioner Valerie Wynn abstained from voting, which made her vote count as a yes, and commissioners Mallory Jones and Bert Bivins voted yes with reservations about the requirement to wear a mask outdoors. Commissioners Joe Allen and Scotty Shepherd voted no.
Commissioner Elaine Lucas, a member of the Board of Health, said the board is serious about COVID-19, and a county mandate will send a message of how serious the virus is.
“We are in a red zone, and we have to do everything we can to make sure that we say we care,” Lucas said in the meeting.
Bibb County has a total of 2,328 cases of the COVID-19 virus and 44 deaths from the virus, according to the Department of Public Health website.
How to enforce a mask mandate
The issue of enforcing the mandate was discussed, but Commissioner Virgil Watkins compared the mandate to requiring seat belts or prohibiting people from texting and driving.
“I doubt very seriously that the sheriff ever arrests or tickets a whole lot of people on this issue, but the fact is the way that we show force is making a law,” Watkins said. “It does help us make the point, so that’s why I’m for making it a mandate.”
Although Wynn said she wears a mask all the time, she said she doesn’t understand how a mandate would be enforced.
Lucas admitted that the mandate wouldn’t be perfect, but she said she thought it was necessary to send the public a message that their leaders care about their health and safety.
Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said businesses and other places that are open to the public are best equipped to ensure that patrons or visitors wear masks, according to a previous Telegraph article.
“I can’t see a situation where we’re going to make an arrest for somebody not wearing a mask,” Davis said, in the article. “But we would strongly encourage them to wear them for their own safety.”
What the mandate requires
Residents and visitors of Macon-Bibb County are required to wear a mask while practicable outside of their residence and personal vehicles with some exceptions, including:
Anyone under 10 years of age
People in a vehicle or other enclosed space that is occupied only by people of the same household
When exercising outdoors
When eating, drinking or smoking
When a mask causes or aggravates a health condition
When wearing a face covering would prevent the receipt of personal services such as medical, dental or care services
The mask requirement does not extend to religious establishments, but people are still strongly encouraged to wear masks in religious establishments, according to the resolution.
Bibb County Schools will not be impacted by the mandate because the school system already expects masks to be worn as much as possible in Bibb schools and facilities, and employees and students will be given a cloth mask as part of the school system’s reopening plan, according to an email from Bibb County Schools spokesperson Stephanie Hartley.
The punishment for not wearing a mask starts at not more than $25 for the first offense and increases to not more than $50 and $100 for the second and third offenses and following offenses, according to the resolution.
Outside pressures for and against the mandate
The resolution followed several weeks of discussion of mask mandates and whether cities are allowed to require masks under Gov. Brian Kemp’s executive order.
Kemp signed an executive order April 20 allowing some businesses to reopen while also prohibiting cities and counties from creating more strict rules, but some Georgia cities, such as Savannah and Atlanta, have issued mask mandates for residents.
Mayor Robert Reichert said in a previous Telegraph article that Kemp’s order prohibits cities and counties from taking measures that are more stringent than the state executive order, which is why Reichert’s executive order encouraged people to wear masks without a mandate.
“This is a delicate balance, and we’re trying to do our best to protect the public and our employees while we continue to provide essential government services and facilitate the reopening of the economy,” Reichert said in the article.
Kemp is now suing the Atlanta City Council and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms because of the city’s mask mandate, which he said violates his executive order preventing cities from issuing stricter coronavirus safety guidelines.
The outcome of that case will set a precedent for the other cities who have issued a mask mandate, said Duke Groover, interim county attorney, during the meeting.
The Board of Health approved a resolution July 10 that urged Reichert and the commission to make face coverings mandatory.
Claire Cox, president of the advocacy group Georgia Women (And Those Who Stand With Us), advocated for the mandate along with Macon businesses who have required masks to be worn in their stores.
“It is obvious going around Macon that people aren’t generally wearing masks when you go into place: depending on us to [wear a mask] has not worked. So we need our leadership to lead,” she said, in a Telegraph article. “It is very widely known from all the reputable sources of scientific and epidemiology leaders in this country that we need to be wearing masks.”
This story was originally published July 23, 2020, 5:00 AM.
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