Mask Requirement For St. Francois County Looming

(Farmington, MO) An emergency board meeting will be held by the St. Francois County Health Department Tuesday afternoon at 4 o'clock in the Centene Center at Farmington.  Health Department Director Amber Elliot says it will be open to the public but there are some requirements to attend that you must follow.

Elliot says if the board approves the mask mandate county wide for at least 30 days, it will legally not require any additional approval by anyone including the county commission for it to be enforceable.

Elliot says she understands the mask mandate is a very divisive issue among people, however, cases of COVID are rapidly increasing and the county remains one of the fastest growing case count in the nation.  She says the department would be relying on the sheriff's department and local police department to enforce the mandate, which is punishable in accordance with state statutes, if the board approves the mandate.  Currently the county is averaging over 30 new cases a day. Just over two weeks ago, the county was averaging around 12 to 14 new cases a day.  There are over 1513 cases as of Friday.  That number is expected to be as high as 1600 in today's update.  There are 665 active cases of COVID in the county as of Friday and an additional death was reported on Friday as well from the virus.