News
County mask mandate extended to Jan. 8
Published
4 years agoon
By
Pat Blair
The mandate that all adults in Sheridan County wear facial coverings – masks – in places open to the public has been extended to Jan. 8.
The mandate would have expired on Saturday.
In addition to extending the mandate, the new order issued by Public Health Officer Dr. Ian Hunter now requires minors 12 and older to wear face coverings. As in the original public health order, children ages 3 to 11 are encouraged, but not required, to wear face coverings.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people infected with COVID-19 can still be contagious even if they don’t have symptoms of the virus. Wearing a face covering helps prevent the spread of droplets that might be infectious.
In addition to the masks, spread of the COVID virus can be minimized by continuing social distancing, staying home when sick and frequent hand washing.
As with the prior public health order, the new order provides certain exceptions for wearing masks.
The full order can be viewed online at https://www.sheridancounty.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HealthOrder_2020-5.pdf.
mark steingass
December 4, 2020 at 1:28 pm
Both the CDC (Center Disease Control) and the WHO (World Health Organization) both support mask wearing during this pandemic…while many skeptics still sow doubt there have been studies done one study by UC San Francisco can be brought up on the internet the article is titled “Still Confused About Masks? Here’s the Science Behind How Face Masks Prevent Coronavirus | UC San Francisco” this study can be GOOGLED by anyone who has doubts…and let me just say the tide is turning on the acceptance of mask wearing…it may not be a 100% preventative but mask wearing hopefully will keep this covid virus from being transmitted into our senior health care facilities and help protect our fellow citizens especially the medically vulnerable…so thank you all who are endorsing and following the guidelines of this public health order
Jan Loftus
December 4, 2020 at 4:52 pm
The Public Health Order cites only one six-month old study. There are newer studies such as the Marine Corp study which showed no significant difference between masks and no masks. The Danish study likewise, showed no statistically significant difference.
Marine Corp study is published Nov. 11th in New England Journal of Medicine
Danish Study is published Nov. 18th in Annals of Internal Medicine.
The Marine Corp study demonstrated less spread among those without masks, again, not enough of a difference to be statistically significant.
These reputable, robust, large-scale, recent studies show masks are not helpful and mandating them goes against the nature of our liberty-loving country. Rather, let each person decide if they feel more comfortable to mask or not to mask.
mark steingass
December 4, 2020 at 6:29 pm
my momma always told me…”an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”
James
December 5, 2020 at 4:16 am
My daddy always told me..”want in one hand……”
mark steingass
December 5, 2020 at 5:05 pm
why don’t you just GOOGLE the study yourself by UC San Francisco I mentioned in the first comment at the top…masks and safety protocols are working the infection rate is about 25% of what it was when the mask mandate was first implemented….masks are not an infringement of liberty they are a temporary inconvenience
mark steingass
December 5, 2020 at 9:30 am
Jan,…you are highly inaccurate and misleading….read the last paragraph of the study you mention…I will quote directly from the Marine Corps study…last paragraph verbatim…”According to the authors, these results suggest the need to augment public health measures with widespread initial and repeated surveillance testing to prevent COVID-19 transmission in group settings”
Jan Loftus
December 5, 2020 at 12:31 pm
I would refer you back to the facts in the Marine Corp study.
1848 volunteered to participate, 51 of those contracted the virus (2.75%)
1554 declined to participate, 26 of them contracted the virus (1.67%)
Jan Loftus
December 7, 2020 at 7:16 am
Here are some facts from the Marine Corp study:
1848 volunteers, 51 (2.75% tested positive during the study
1554 declined to participate, 26 (1.67% tested positive during the study
The Danish study is probably more conclusive. Sheridan neighbors, please go to the studies yourself and read them. I have the details in the comment above. It is important we don’t do something just to do something. I believe we must also consider how much we will force on others and how many renewals of mask wearing mandates will we swallow before we contact our county commissioners and city council.
Mitch Smith
December 4, 2020 at 6:44 pm
Ask our Governor how well masks work……
mark steingass
December 5, 2020 at 6:18 am
mitchum…the daily infection rate in Sheridan County has dropped significantly since the mask mandate was initiated…look at the numbers
James
December 5, 2020 at 6:06 am
I have a preexisting condition. It’s called liberty.
Harriett Oleson
December 5, 2020 at 11:35 am
Liberty ? Does liberty, give you the right to infect others with a virus that will kill them, just because you are not tough enough to wear an uncomfortable mask, or don’t have the common courtesy to respect the health of those around you. A truly silly stretch of the word liberty. Silly and infantile, Let’s drop this ridiculous political junk and start pulling together as Americans, to get rid of this virus. Talk about sheeple, blindly following the leader, your post is a great example.
ray olson
December 5, 2020 at 10:21 pm
actually your pre existing condition is called dunning kruger effect
Mitch Smith
December 5, 2020 at 11:28 pm
You Sir, are a Patriot!