OUTAGAMIE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – Despite the end of the statewide mask mandate, Outagamie County Public Health is issuing a local public health order requiring face coverings effective on Thursday.
“It was an ill-advised, partisan decision. Once again, it falls to local government to lead and that’s exactly what we’re going to be doing here in Outagamie County,” County Executive Tom Nelson told WTAQ News. “It’s a joint determination between the County Board chair, myself, and the public health department to basically continue what we’ve been doing, for now, several months. So our message is just to keep doing what you’re doing…We should not let down our guard. We should do everything we can to limit the spread of the virus and to save lives.”
The county order requires everyone 5 and older to wear a mask when indoors or in an enclosed space around people they don’t live with, with some exceptions.
“We’re simply picking up where the governor’s order left off…
The mask requirement enjoys a vast majority of support. The people want this. So we’re going to continue with the county local order,” Nelson told WTAQ News. “In the majority opinion, they made it very, very clear that decision does not apply to local government…It’s a strong order, and if it’s challenged, we’re confident that it will withstand scrutiny.”
Nelson adds that it’s a public health order, which doesn’t require approval from the county board.
“However, we thought it was very, very important to have consensus among public health, county executive, and the County Board chair,” Nelson said.
According to a press release, the county says vaccination efforts are proceeding as quickly as the vaccine is obtained, and they anticipate vaccine supply to continually increase, only 28.1% of Outagamie County residents have received at least one dose and 16.6% have been fully vaccinated at the time of this release. It is important for the public to know that
the majority of our population is still vulnerable to the virus that causes COVID-19.
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