CLAYTON, Mo. (CN) — Using a new state law designed to limit public health mandates, a split St. Louis County Council voted to end the county’s mask mandate less the 48 hours after it was put in place.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page instituted the mask mandate along with St. Louis City Mayor Tishaura Jones on Monday. Both Page and Jones are Democrats.
The council’s 5-2 vote does not affect the mandate in St. Louis City, which is a completely different jurisdiction than St. Louis County.
Councilman Tim Fitch, a Republican, led the opposition claiming Page violated a new state law, House Bill 271, by not providing the council data to back the mandate. Recently signed into law by Republican Governor Mike Parson, HB 271 limits the time frame local health orders can be in effect without approval from local elected officials.
“Sam Page and his supporters have done their best to make our discussion tonight about masks versus no masks,” Fitch said during the meeting. “They want to divide us. Before we have that discussion, we have to settle his blatant violation of state law, the county charter and county ordinances by issuing the so-called mask mandate.”
Page had hoped a presentation by Dr. Faisal Khan, the county’s health director, during the meeting about the state of Covid-19 growth with the Delta variant would sway the vote. Khan told the council that younger and younger people, including adolescents, are ending up in St. Louis hospitals and that the virus is “serious and people are dying.”
Those in the packed meeting room heckled Khan, prompting the moderator to call for order several times. The vast majority of those in attendance opposed the mask mandate.
Page addressed the council after the vote. He did not mention what he will do in response to the vote, but a legal challenge could be an option.
“The vaccine can protect against the virus or mitigate symptoms, it does not prevent everyone from becoming infected or passing Covid-19 on to others who are vulnerable,” Page said. “Until more people get vaccinated, we all must continue doing what we can to protect ourselves and others.”
Dozens of people lined up outside the building before the meeting to protest the mandate. Many made signs and one person carried the American flag.
More than 50 citizens signed up to speak at the meeting. Each speaker got three minutes and the council voted after all the speakers were heard, stretching the meeting to over three hours in length.
Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway, a Democrat, chastised the crowd after the public comments concluded. She and fellow Democrat Lisa Clancy voted in favor of the mandate.
“You were all asked to get a vaccine, you were asked to wear a mask and you didn’t,” Dunaway told the jeering crowd. “And now with Covid on the rise in our community again, thanks to others like you who won't get a vaccine and won't wear a mask, the time has come and gone to ask you to do the right thing. Throughout this pandemic, I have been deeply saddened to see so many of my fellow Americans care so little for their neighbors, friends and family and to do so with such gusto and without an even an ounce of compassion.”
The vote did not go along party lines. Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, a Democrat who represents one of the region’s hardest hit areas by the virus in north St. Louis County, voted against Page for not getting the council’s support before making the decision. She was one of two Democrats to go against Page.
“I am serious about protecting lives, not being in political spotlights,” Webb said during the meeting. “What is the true solution and keeping my community safe and keep us from hanging in the balance is to be informed to be educated and to be vaccinated. Madam Chair, I will be voting to rescind this mandate.”
The council’s decision is contrary to new guidelines issued by the Center for Disease Control on Tuesday, which recommended that even fully vaccinated individuals should wear masks indoors if they are in areas with high infection rates.
That includes almost the entire state of Missouri, including the St. Louis region.
“What was not really as well understood was the capability of this Delta variant to transmit so readily among people that vaccinated people who get breakthrough infections can actually transmit their virus to others,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s Chief Medical Advisor, told Lester Holt on the NBC Evening News on Tuesday. “It’s something that happens rarely, its not a common event, but since it does, that has triggered a change in the guideline for wearing masks on vaccinated people.”
The St. Louis area mask mandates also face a legal challenge by Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt. The U.S. Senate candidate filed a lawsuit Monday night claiming the mandates are unconstitutional.
A spokesman for Jones believes the new CDC guidelines backs their position on the mask mandate.
"Today’s renewed indoor mask guidance from the Centers for Disease Control confirms what our administration has been advocating: Wearing masks is an important step in protecting residents and stopping the spread of COVID-19 amid a spike in hospitalizations," said Nick Dunne, spokesperson for the City of St. Louis, in a statement.
"While vaccination is still the best way to prevent severe illness and hospitalization from COVID-19, wearing masks will help stop the spread to others until more people throughout St. Louis are fully vaccinated," he added.
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