By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As of Friday at 6 p.m., Wood County residents will be required to wear masks in buildings used by the public and outside in places where they can’t maintain 6 feet distance from others.
Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday that Wood County had jumped into the “Level 3 – Red” category for COVID-19. That level means that “very high exposure and spread” and advises that people limit activities as much as possible.
The designation brings with it a mask mandate.
“It does put us under a mandatory face covering,” Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Batey said. “Everybody has to be wearing a face covering when they are in public.”
Violating the requirement is a second degree misdemeanor, Batey said.
The mandate will be up to the Wood County Health Department and local law enforcement agencies to enforce.
But it’s not like local law enforcement will be looking for violators.
“We’d have to receive some major complaints,” Batey said. He predicted that most complaints may come from citizens about businesses not enforcing the mask mandate, or about large groups of people congregating.
Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said his officers will not be enforcing the mask mandate, but will be referring concerns to the health department.
The county got bumped up to Level 3 because of four indicators. None of them were related to the numbers at Wood County Hospital, which currently has no patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
The big factor that pushed Wood County up to Level 3 was the community-wide spread of the virus. The number of outpatients with COVID symptoms visiting their physicians grew greatly in the last two weeks.
As of Tuesday, the county had 65 active cases. Active cases involve Wood County residents who are being monitored by the health department according to state and federal isolation criteria.
As of today, the number of active cases has dropped to 54.
“We’re trending in the right direction,” Batey said.
Batey does not believe the testing last week conducted for more than 400 people at the health department created the spike in active cases. Only a handful of those testing have come back with positive results so far.
“We don’t feel that was a driving factor,” he said.
Wood County will remain in Level 3 for at least a week, until the state reassesses its numbers.
“The hope for us is that the numbers continue to trend downward so we can go back to a Level 2,” Batey said.
But until then, Wood County residents will be required to wear masks outside their homes when they are in public-used buildings or outside where they cannot maintain 6-foot distance from others. Excluded are people with certain medical conditions or children under 10 years old.
Batey cautioned that a lot rides on Wood County cooperating with the requirement. First is the status of Wood County Hospital.
“The last thing any of us want to see is the hospital impacted,” he said.
Second is the fate of future events in the county.
“It’s in everybody’s best interest to keep our numbers as low as possible,” Batey said. “No one wants to keep canceling events.”
Batey said Bowling Green City Council’s plan to pass a mask mandate makes sense as a way to prevent more spread of the virus.
“From a public health perspective, I think it shows how proactive they are as a community,” he said.
The level red ranking is currently shared by the following counties: Lorain, Cuyahoga, Summit, Trumbull, Franklin, Pickaway, Fairfield, Montgomery, Butler, Hamilton and Clermont.
