Despite Critics, Pinellas Commission Upholds Mandatory Mask Order

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Pinellas County commissioners sat through more than three hours of sometimes-hostile public comment regarding the county's mandatory face mask order Thursday. But, in the end, the commission opted to keep the order in place for at least the next seven days.

Eighty-four callers appealed to the commission to repeal the face mask mandate for reasons ranging from the public ridicule of people who are medically prevented from wearing masks to declarations that masks simply don't work and all evidence by medical experts to the contrary is wrong.

The debate was also played out on the Pinellas County government's Facebook page where more than 3,000 residents commented on the issue.

Among those speaking Thursday was Andrea Anderson of Seminole who said she has an autoimmune condition that causes breathing difficulties and has a medical exemption to the mask order.

She said she's been discriminated against by store employees and treated with hostility by fellow shoppers because she doesn't wear a mask. She said one store even called the police on a friend who does not wear a mask due to a medical exemption.

"To be honest, it's made our county an unpleasant place to live," she said, urging the county to do more public education about medical exemptions to the order.

Karla Rudolph of St. Petersburg equated the effectiveness of masks with trying to keep mosquitoes out of a backyard with a chain-link fence. The coronavirus particles are so small, they can easily penetrate a mask, she said.

"The masks do not work," she said.

But residents such as Carol Levinsky said the mandatory face mask order saves lives. A senior citizen who has a compromised immune system, Levinsky said she's spent the past six months confined to her home and only recently felt safe enough to venture out in public wearing a mask. She fears discontinuing the mandate will force her back into isolation.

"I don't think a mask order is any more tyrannical than the seatbelt mandate," said Beth Weinstein. "At the end of the day, society has to do what's best for the public's health."

Pinellas County commissioners mandated the wearing of masks inside public places in June after a "who's who" of medical and public health experts testified before the commission that the use of masks would dramatically decrease the risk of spreading and being exposed to the coronavirus.

Dr. Ulyee Choe, director of Pinellas County's Florida Department of Health, said this has been borne out in the most recent data showing the rate of residents who tested positive for coronavirus is decreasing. The positivity rate is currently about 3 percent, he said. That's a major improvement from June when positivity rates were as high as 15.2 percent.

"The trends are certainly encouraging," said Choe. "Again, we were able to achieve these results because of social distancing and the wearing of masks No one's going to say masks are comfortable. Most people would rather not wear one."

But he said public health officials throughout the world including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization are continuing to recommend the wearing of masks. Additionally, a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed the use of masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus is even more effective than originally thought

He encouraged residents with questions to read the numerous mask studies listed on the CDC website.

See related stories:

• Pinellas County Mask Mandate Goes Into Effect 5 p.m. Wednesday
• Ways To Stop The Spread Of Coronavirus: Pinellas Doctors