Bartholomew County authorities consider mask mandate for community

Bartholomew County authorities are considering a mandate to require face masks in public places throughout the community. Columbus city leaders and county leaders met Tuesday afternoon with local law enforcement to discuss the details of such a mandate.

Masks or other facial coverings are seen as one of the primary ways to stem the COVID-19 pandemic.

Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop said that there are a variety of mask orders that have gone into effect around the state and one of the primary differences is how many exceptions they allow.

Lienhoop said the goal locally would be to encourage and educate the public on the importance of wearing masks, rather than being punitive.

After weekend visits to other Indiana communities, Lienhoop said he believes that heavy enforcement efforts will not be needed.

Dr. Brian Niedbalski, the county health officer, is ultimately the authority that would issue such an order. He said he believes a mask mandate would be a help to the health of the community as it sees a slight uptick in positive test results.

Niedbalski said that a mandate will be required to get the amount of mask usage to as close to 100 percent as possible.

He said says that having a mandate would help back up those businesses already making the independent decisions to require masks.

Niedbalski said that a decision could be announced later today.

Bartholomew County has had 641 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 45 deaths, according to the most recent update from the Indiana State Department of Health. The most recent death in Bartholomew or surrounding counties was was July 6th, in Jennings County.

Statewide, there have been 57,916 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Indiana, an increase of 734 cases since Monday’s update.There have been 2,652 deaths in Indiana as of Tuesday afternoon’s update, an increase of 20 since Sunday.