Mandatory Face Mask Order Extended In JOCO

The Johnson County Community Health Services Board of Trustees voted unanimously during a special board meeting to extend the face covering order for Johnson County through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday night, September 13, 2020. The goal is to sustain the reduction of positive COVID-19 cases.

“As the local public health agency, we must continue to work toward maintaining the health and wellness of our community,” said Mary Thaut, JCCHS administrator.

“This includes taking steps to lower the risk of exposure to COVID-19, and lessen the probability for uncontrolled community spread.

“We know the continued use of face coverings in public spaces, in addition to other precautions, such as social distancing, will mitigate the risk. We have seen a significant reduction of positive cases since the order was first implemented on July 6.”

Since implementing the face covering order, Johnson County has seen a 73.9 percent decline in new cases in the first two weeks of August compared to the first two weeks in July.

From July 1 to July 14, Johnson County had 199 confirmed positive cases. From August 1 through August 14, Johnson County had 52 confirmed positive cases. JCCHS extended the order to maintain the downward trend.

In addition, schools are reopening. It is important to take a proactive step toward helping contain the spread while students head back to the classroom. The use of face coverings will limit exposure to COVID-19.

School districts can implement alternative safety precautions for students when wearing face coverings within the classroom is not a viable option.

This includes providing social distancing, and encouraging frequent hand washing.

While attending school in a classroom setting and/or while participating in school sponsored activities, students will fall under the school facility’s current COVID-19 policy.

Visitors and parents/guardians will continue to fall under the current county public health order.

Best practice recommendations state that individuals should wear face coverings in public settings when around people outside of their household, especially when social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.

Face coverings help prevent individuals who have COVID-19 from spreading the virus to others, and are most likely to reduce the spread of COVID-19 when they are widely used by individuals in public settings.

A face covering should not replace social distancing, but used as an additional layer of protection.

Wearing face coverings helps slow the spread of COVID-19. It will take the help of every person within Johnson County to make this work.