County Expands Mask Mandate

Evansville IN

19 August, 2021

2:11 PM

Description

By Steve Burger, WNIN Aug. 19, 2021 Vanderburgh County Commissioners Tuesday split their votes on expanding a mask mandate for county owned buildings, as one commissioner said that the measure doesn't go far enough. Vanderburgh County owned buildings and county offices within the Civic Center have been under an executive order to wear masks indoors. But that order was due to expire this week. During a vote on a resolution that would make face coverings mandatory in county owned buildings until further notice, commissioner Cheryl Musgrave said that conditions now are far different than they were when a mask mandate was approved early in the pandemic, and a masking requirement is no longer needed. Musgrave urged commissioners to consider a vaccine mandate for county employees instead. "The masking is coddling those, who, for whatever reason, refuse to get this safe, free and universally available vaccine." The mask mandate for county owned buildings passed, with Musgrave voting against it. The mask mandate affects the Vanderburgh County Jail, the coroner's office, the weights and measures office, Old National Events Plaza, the Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, the Old Courthouse, Burdette Park, and county offices within the Civic Center. In other business, Vanderburgh County Health Department administrator Joe Gries says with new guidelines that immunocompromised people should get a coronavirus booster shot, the department will begin publicizing how people can get the third vaccination. The Indiana Department of Health reports more than 300 COVID-19 cases early in the school year. The state surpasses 3 million fully vaccinated, as new cases surpass 3,000 in a day for the first time since January. Gov. Eric Holcomb maintains that he will not reimpose restrictions. Officials are calling for a safe, healthy Fall Festival this October. Local business leaders concerned about the Delta variant surge held a town hall Monday to exchange information. WNIN is the NPR/PBS affiliate in Evansville, Indiana. We serve Southwestern Indiana, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois from our multimedia facility located on the Ohio River in downtown Evansville. For the past several years, the recognized quality of our local news has placed us among the best small market radio news organizations in the nation.