Mobile joined a growing number of cities in Alabama Wednesday by mandating people wear a mask or face covering while within city limits during the month of July.
The city ordinance passed with a 6-1 vote and concluded close to six hours of discussion and debate spanning the past two days. It also included a few exceptions including outdoor activities in parks and doesn’t apply to children ages 10 and under or for people who could suffer “substantial mental or physical health” problems from wearing a mask.
Another exemption, according to Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, will be inside restaurants. He said the city will send out a FAQ on Thursday that will provided specifics as to what the ordinance covers, including its start date. Stimpson said he was hopeful it could be implemented on Friday.
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson talks to the media on Wednesday, July 1, 2020, after the Mobile City Council supported an ordinance requiring people to wear masks for the next 30 days while in public. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).
“The whole idea behind it was to slow what has been a rapid increase of the cases (of coronavirus) in the past couple of weeks,” said Stimpson.
Mobile joined Tuscaloosa to approve a mask mandate in the past week as the number of COVID-19 cases continue to soar statewide. Alabama added 906 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, and Mobile County – which has set single-day records for new COVID-19 cases in the past week – added another 63. Since the pandemic began in March, Mobile County has had close to 3,700 confirmed cases of the virus which is the third highest in the state behind Jefferson and Montgomery counties.
The rash of city ordinances comes after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, during a news conference Tuesday, said it “would be next to impossible to enforce” a statewide mask-wearing mandate. Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery have mask wearing ordinances in place. Jefferson County instituted its ordinance on Monday.
Few, if any, tickets have been issued in cities where there is a mask ordinance and Stimpson said he doesn’t anticipate tickets being written in Mobile. He said that the city has ordered a total of 14,000 masks that police plan to distribute to people who do not have one. He said that law enforcement anticipates voluntary compliance to the ordinance, but that ticket-writing will be at a police officer’s discretion.
Violators will face a $50 fine for a first offense, which is higher than Tuscaloosa’s $25 fine. A second-time offender in Mobile will be fined $100.
“We have the ability to write the citation,” said Stimpson. “There will be someone who will test you. Let’s just hope we have voluntary compliance.”
Council members suggested they have already been tested by ordinance opponents who, in recent days, suggested that some of them were “in the back pocket” of billionaire investor George Soros, whose support for liberal and progressive causes has earned him derision by conservative commentators and the target of conspiracy theories. During Wednesday’s meeting, at least one speaker shouted, “This is Nazism” at the council, while another speaker refused to give his name because he was concerned about having “Antifa at my front door.” Accusations of “tyranny” and “unconstitutional” were also hurled at the council. Three police officers arrived midway through the meeting to oversee the proceedings.
Council members said they were supporting the ordinance to “protect the health and safety” of Mobile residents, not because of a political agenda. Other said they were swayed to support the ordinance after it received overwhelmingly support from the leaders of Mobile County’s medical community, including the chief medical officers at the city’s four hospitals who spoke in support of the measure during Tuesday’s meeting.
“The last thing we want to do is have another shutdown of our economy,” said Councilwoman Gina Gregory. “We have to protect our businesses, tax revenues and our people at the same time.”
She added, “We heard from nine doctors (on Tuesday). I heard some people say, ‘they must have been bought off by George Soros.’ You really think doctors in Mobile, Alabama, were bought off by George Soros?”
Stimpson said he had not received similar emails, but added that social media – while having its benefits – can get “things hyped up and maybe overhyped, to a degree.”
He added, “My hope is there will be peace and calm abut this. The spirit of the city councilors and the way they were expressing (their viewpoints) was a genuine effort and an understanding of both sides of the issue.”
Said Councilwoman Bess Rich, “We have to do what is best for everyone. It’s very sensitive. People are on edge. We get it.”
Mobile City Councilman John Williams speaks during the council's meeting on Wednesday, July 1, 2020, at Government Plaza in Mobile, Ala. Williams was the only "No" vote in a 6-1 decision to mandate people wear masks within city limits for the next 30 days. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).
Councilman John Williams, the only “No” vote on the council, said he doesn’t oppose masks and supports private businesses establishing mask policies, such as what is currently in place at Whole Foods and Costco in Mobile. He said his concern was having the city adopt an ordinance he believes is “unenforceable.”
He said the wording with the ordinance lacked definition such as what constituted a face mask. He also questioned why the ordinance exempted children under 10, and how that age was determined. He also said the ordinance, which requires masks to be worn on “congested sidewalks,” could be interpreted in a variety of ways.
“I have a definition of a congested sidewalk and my picture is New York on New Year’s Eve or Mobile, Alabama, at the MoonPie (Over Mobile) next to the (band) stage,” Williams said. “But two to three block away, that might be the application?”
Williams, during Tuesday’s meeting, requested the council’s vote be laid over for one week. Council rules allow a single member to hold a council agenda item for one week after it is first introduced for consideration. The mask ordinance would have then been scheduled for a vote during the council’s July 7 meeting, but a majority – at the urging of the medical leaders who spoke on Tuesday – opted to hold a special meeting on Wednesday and get the ordinance adopted before the Fourth of July weekend.
The ordinance could be extended into August. Dr. Bernard Eichold, the county’s health officer, said he believes 30 days is the “bare minimum,” saying that 60 days would offer an “opportunity” for gathering better data. Other cities that have adopted similar ordinances, like Tuscaloosa, have a 30-day window in place as well.
“I’m sensitive to proposing mandates on the public and the difficulties likely to enforce it,” said Councilman Joel Daves. “We’re dealing with something we’ve never dealt with before. The situations changes as we go from week to week. We know things now we didn’t know six weeks ago, and we will know things six weeks from now we don’t know today. Public officials have a responsibility to act and to act in a timely manner. (We) may end up looking back on this and deciding it wasn’t the right decision.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advocating mask wearing to help prevent the spread of the virus, noting that it spreads mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, talks or raises their voices (shouting or singing, for example).
Statistics show that mask wearing is making inroads toward reducing the virus. One analysis published by the Philadelphia Inquirer shows that in states where mask wearing is mandatory in public, the number of new coronavirus cases dropped 25% from June 1-7 to June 15-21. In states where masks are recommended but not required, the number of new cases during those same time periods increased by 84%.
A University of Washington computer model also suggests that 33,000 American lives could be saved from Covid-19 between now and Oct. 1 if more people wore masks.
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Mask up, Mobile: City requiring face coverings in public - AL.com
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