City to enforce masks inside public buildings

City to enforce masks inside public buildings Main Photo

4 Mar 2021


City of Seguin, news, Covid19

Seguin, TX, USA / Seguin Today

Cindy Aguirre

 

(Seguin) — Officials in the city of Seguin want residents to continue to mask up despite an order from Governor Greg Abbott lifting the statewide mask mandate next week.

Mayor Donna Dodgen says she’s ready to reopen most city facilities, but she says people still need to wear a mask and practice social distancing when they come into the public buildings.

“My thought was that we do open things up but that we require masks and that we do continue to require the plexiglass or the items that help minimize the amount of contact. I’m fine with that. I really want more of our Seguin citizens to be vaccinated prior to opening up fully,” said Dodgen.

Dodgen, who’s worked in the healthcare field for decades, says wearing a mask is still the right thing to do. She says even without a mandate from the state, people should wear the mask to protect themselves and to protect the others around them.

“I just can’t as a healthcare worker say totally within our city facilities that we need to give up our masks. I don’t think it is safe for our employees and I don’t think it is safe for us,” said Dodgen.

Most city facilities will now fully reopen, with the exception of the Seguin Coliseum. Dodgen says the Coliseum has become an essential part of their efforts to vaccinate the community, so it will not be available for normal rentals until a majority of the people are vaccinated.

“I do feel that we do need to keep the Coliseum closed because we are ready for vaccines and I just think that’s a big issue that we need to be ready to go whenever those vaccines come in — set and ready to go. That helps a lot. We’ve already spent a lot of man hours doing that so I don’t want to take down and reset up. But otherwise, I’m okay with opening up the city properties and libraries and things like that along with masks and practicing good hygiene,” said Dodgen.

City Manager Steve Parker on Tuesday night provided the council an update on the local COVID-19 response, and he says the data shows that the numbers continue to go downward. He also tried to clarify exactly what’s included in the governor’s new order, which rescinds all of the state’s COVID-19 mandates.

“The governor came out with an executive order that goes into effect on March 10, next Wednesday that basically opens up all businesses back to 100 percent. There are no longer any state mandates for masks but it does allow the individual businesses or entities to still require a mask if they still choose so. Can’t fine them or put them in jail but you can ask them to leave your establishment. If they refuse, then it’s a criminal trespass warning that the police department issue,” said Parker.

Even though the state mask mandate order will be lifted, Parker says health officials and others are still encouraging you to wear your mask when you go out. He says the pandemic isn’t over, and people still need to be careful.

“They are still asking people, recommending people to use good hygiene measures, wash their hands, stay six feet apart and that also includes the wearing of a mask. It’s just not a mandate now from the governor’s office,” said Parker.

Councilman Chris Aviles questioned if there was a way for the city to ease its way into some of these changes. He says that he’s worried that people will let down their guard, and that we could start to see the numbers spike again.

“I think we ought to gradually move into it and kind of see how things go. Penny, you know the hospital, what you see in there and maybe we should see what the trends are first. We just don’t want to do a knee jerk reaction and then all of sudden, we get spikes and cases if they are low already. I just think we need to take a conservative approach to it because we need to maintain safety,” said Aviles.

Mayor Dodgen says she agrees with Aviles, but she says there are limits to what the city can do at this time. She says they will continue to watch this issue closely — something that they’ve been doing for more than a year now — and if things go badly, they can revisit the issue.

Meanwhile, Dodgen says she knows that this will reignite arguments over mask usage. She says the bottom line is that people still need to wear a mask at any place that requires them, which will include city of Seguin facilities.

“What I was saying is that we will require them to wear a mask and if they don’t come in with a mask on, we are going to ask them to put one on and if they refuse, then they need to go away and come back with a mask on later. I’m sorry. It’s not fair to allow them here and not allow everyone to do the same thing. I just think that we need to protect our staff and we need to protect us. But no, I’m sorry. I think you need to wear your mask in city facilities,” said Dodgen.

It is still up to the various organizations and businesses whether or not they will require masks be used for entry. That means even though the mask mandate is going away, you still may need to wear your mask before you go into the grocery store or into your favorite restaurant. The discretion is up to those owners. Again, the governor’s order lifting COVID-19 restrictions in Texas goes into effect on Wednesday, March 10.

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