After seeing coronavirus cases escalate, the Greene County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved a face covering mandate.
The resolution says everyone must wear a face mask in public settings indoors, like grocery stores, and outside when they can’t stay six feet apart. Greene County Public Health Director Becky Wolf says the recent spike in cases is partly because people have become complacent.
“But we’ve also had several community type events that have occurred and then we have seen multiple cases related to that event that people were at,” she says.
Wolf says the county had a two-week infection rate below 6% a couple weeks ago, but today it’s above 24%.
On Tuesday, Governor Kim Reynolds signed a new public health emergency declaration requiring masks in large social gatherings. Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehne says the county resolution is unenforceable right now — and is intended to be educational.
“If the governor’s proclamation were to expire or be terminated, at that point the county’s mask mandate would go into effect,” he says.
Greene County is in the northwest quadrant of Iowa. Jefferson is the county seat.
(By Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)