By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
There will be no strict policing of the mask mandate issued for Wood County. Instead public health officials hope citizens cooperate with the mask requirement since it’s best for people’s health, businesses and social calendars.
“We can’t go running around the country just because one resident takes a mask off in a grocery store,” Ben Batey said Thursday evening during his last meeting as county health commissioner.
Batey wants local residents to do the right thing for their fellow citizens and businesses.
“I would like to see people take it seriously,” he said. “I think it’s an opportunity for us to prove in Wood County we can control this virus. We know how to do it.”
On Thursday, Wood County was declared a Level 3-Red county due to rising community spread of COVID-19. As of Friday evening, it has been a second degree misdemeanor for people to not wear masks in indoor locations used by the public and outside locations where people can’t maintain 6 feet of distance.
For those who don’t comply with the mask mandate, Batey said the enforcement will be “very tricky.”
“We’re asking the community to cooperate with us on this, because we know it’s the most efficient way that we can get our numbers down as quickly as possible,” he said.
However, if the health department gets frequent complaints about a location, such as a business, staff will respond.
“We would follow up on it,” Batey said.
Though the health department has no desire to shut down businesses because of failure to comply with the mask mandate, Batey said the agency has the ability to consider the licensing of some businesses.
Local law enforcement agencies have no intention of policing the wearing of masks.
Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said his officers will not be enforcing the mask mandate, but will be referring concerns to the health department.
Bowling Green Police Division is looking at its role as being educational – not enforcement.
Police Lt. Dan Mancuso said officers will respond to complaints of people not following the mask requirement. Officers will not be issuing fines, but they will be educating people about the new mask mandate.
“There are a lot of people who don’t follow the news,” Mancuso said. So they may not be aware of the state on Thursday declaring Wood County as under a Level 3 – Red alert for COVID-19.
Mancuso said BGPD officers will be making sure people are aware of the requirement.
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.
Initially, Wood County’s highest COVID numbers were seen in long-term care facilities.
“Our numbers early on were driven by outbreaks in congregate settings,” he said.
Now the highest number of new cases involve young people in the Bowling Green area – many who are asymptomatic but who are testing positive.
“Young people like to go out and get together,” Batey said.
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.
Since then, the numbers of active cases have dropped to 54.
“We’re trending in the right direction,” Batey said.
“It’s time to take this seriously in this community,” he said. “The goal is to get this under control.”
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 tested 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.
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.”
