CB council strongly in support of mask mandate

Coronavirus crisis a “deadly serious” situation

by Mark Reaman

The Crested Butte Town Council on Monday unanimously passed a resolution supporting the new Gunnison County Public Health Order reacting to the coronavirus crisis that includes the mandating of face coverings in certain circumstances. The council had planned to consider such a mandate for town last Monday evening but the county decided on Monday afternoon to make the use of facemasks mandatory countywide.

“I asked to have this on the agenda,” said mayor Jim Schmidt. “I don’t always agree with the county but in this case I wanted to strongly support the county. I have been upset with some of the reaction to the new order and to Public Health director Joni Reynolds in particular. I think she is doing a great job. This is deadly serious and the effect it can have on Crested Butte is deadly serious.”

Schmidt said the local health department had recently closed down a couple of restaurants in Aspen after employees tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I feel strongly that this community needs to enforce the county health orders so we don’t close any of our restaurants. Some people seem to take glee in mocking the county health orders but we get a lot of visitors from states like Texas and Oklahoma that are seeing a rise in cases,” said Schmidt. “No one wants a second wave of this virus to come through here. I truly support what the county and the county health officer has done to battle COVID-19 in the valley.”

“A week ago we had five new cases in two weeks. We saw in March and April how quickly that could spread,” said council member Will Dujardin. “It is important to have [the county’s] back. Joni has been a rock star and literally saved lives in the community.”

“I definitely support Joni,” added council member Chris Haver. “We don’t have medical training to make these determinations. I’ve been watching the work that’s been going into this and I have faith in the orders. It’s insurance. It’s insurance to protect people and businesses. The orders help the community stay open. It’s insurance that we keep moving forward.”

The council voted unanimously to approve the resolution and send it to the county.

Several times during the June 15 meeting the council emphasized the importance of adhering to the county health orders so the COVID-19 virus would not spread. “We don’t want to go from our current Blue level to the more drastic Yellow rating on the Coronameter,” emphasized Haver, referring to the color-coded risk evaluation system being used by the county to determine restrictions. “That would really set the community back. If we were to go to an Orange level the ski area wouldn’t be allowed to open and that would be devastating.”

“People need to understand that we don’t want to go to more strict regulations,” said Schmidt. “We need to follow the health orders so we can stay open.”

It was also reported at the meeting that the Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce has purchased 5,000 disposable masks. They will be made available to the public and local businesses.

As for enforcement of the county mask mandate in the town of Crested Butte, chief marshal Mike Reily again emphasized to the council in a memo that education on the importance of masks is the foundation for making that aspect of the public health order work. He did say “individuals refusing to comply with the order while remaining in a place of business could be cited.” He also said businesses refusing to enforce masks in their place of business could be cited for failure to obey a lawful order and could be reported to public health. In the worst-case scenario, a request to revoke their business license could be made.