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KANSAS. (KWCH) – In the coming days, we await responses from the majority of counties in Kansas on how they will respond to Governor Kelly’s latest request for a statewide mask order.
About three-fifths of the state’s counties do not have a mask order in place. Governor Kelly hopes to reduce that portion of the pie before Thanksgiving, as counties must act by Wednesday.
“Ensuring that I take responsibility for creating a standard to follow for the state of Kansas, but also gives Kansas counties the ownership and flexibility to decide how best to implement,” said the Governor Laura Kelly at a press conference Wednesday announcing the Executive Order’s public awareness campaign.
Many counties in Kansas continued to recommend, without the need for masks.
“We have always encouraged everyone to wear a mask. Keep the social distance, and we’ve had them in place for several months now. We just encouraged everyone to follow these rules, ”said Keith Becker, chair of the McPherson County Board of Commissioners.
That could change in McPherson County on Monday depending on how the county council of commissioners acts. They are ready to discuss Governor Kelly’s latest executive order. Locally, the towns of McPherson and Lindsborg already have mask orders in place.
McPherson County will be joined by a number of other counties doing the same before Wednesday’s deadline.
Marion County will be one of them on Monday. It comes a week after he voted against a county-drafted mask ordinance.
Marion County Commission Board Chairman Jonah Gehring said on Sunday he didn’t think it would be this time around as they discussed the governor’s order.
“We just need to move on and stop worrying about anything other than hospitals and their capacity and the fatigue of their medical staff. I think we can all come together and agree on this point which is our end goal, ”said Marion County Commissioner Jonah Gehring.
He said they had a working session on Friday to review what was in it.
“Seems like everyone pretty much agrees that this one could be the best it can be,” Gehring said.
But the counties continue to weigh all their options.
“In my opinion, the three options we have right now would be to do nothing and let the governor’s term come into effect on Wednesday.” Kingman County Commissioners Chairman John Steffen said, “Another option would be to withdraw. and continue with what you recommended.
Commissioner Steffen said the third is to step back, but then adopt their own mask or ordinance requirement.
“We’ll look at what the numbers are. Our numbers keep climbing like everyone else. Steffen said, “I haven’t seen much of a difference between counties that have mask mandates and counties that don’t. There doesn’t seem to be that much of a difference. In fact, I think there are places where I think it’s actually more since they’re wearing masks.
Kansas has set records for the number of new cases in recent weeks.
CDC research, released November 20, shows that in Kansas, counties that issued a mask order in early July saw a slight decrease in the number of net new cases of COVID-19 through the remainder of July and August. compared to June. New cases per 100,000 population fell by about 6%.
In counties where mask orders were not imposed, those areas saw a 100% increase in new cases per 100,000 population from July to August compared to June.
In Ellis County, a special meeting was also called Monday morning.
County Commissioners Chairman Butch Schlyer said in a statement on Sunday: “The Ellis County Commissioners Council is holding a special session tomorrow morning at 7 am to discuss the Governor’s Order in Council. I will support the order and try to steer the discussion towards that goal. “
Barton and Harper counties also have meetings scheduled for Monday where the order will be discussed.
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