By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City Council President Mark Hollenbaugh said tonight that he plans to ask council to end the mask mandate in the city on June 2 – the same time Gov. Mike DeWine said the state orders would expire.
Hollenbaugh said he sent out an email to council members on Wednesday after the governor made his announcement.
“I asked them to think about all the ramifications,” such as confusion for residents and businesses if the city mandate continued after the state’s expired.
“I plan on having our mask mandate end on June 2, the same as the state,” Hollenbaugh said, noting that it will require a vote of council to change the local ordinance.
Bowling Green City Council had voted on March 16 to extend the city’s mask mandate until June. 30.
Across the nation, some states at that point were lifting mask mandates – often over the objections of public health officials.
But in March, Hollenbaugh had said that while the vaccinations will result in the lifting of restrictions – the time had not yet arrived.
However, DeWine’s announcement will push the city to shed its mandate early.
Earlier today, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 do not need to wear masks or practice social distancing indoors or outdoors, except under certain circumstances.
In Ohio, the rate of infections is still more than double the goal DeWine had set for removing pandemic-related restrictions. But the governor said that on June 2, all orders will expire except those regarding nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.
“It’s time to end the health orders,” DeWine said during his speech. “It’s been a year.”
The state is far short of several benchmarks the governor and other health officials say should be met before life can return to something like it was in February 2020.
DeWine earlier this year said that the rate of coronavirus cases would have to drop to 50 per 100,000 Ohioans before orders such as the requirement to wear masks indoors in public spaces would be dropped. As of Wednesday, that rate stood at 123 per 100,000 and was dropping at a rate of two to three percentage points a day, the governor said.
