COLUMBUS – Folks in central Ohio who thought their days of masking up were behind them may have to pull those pandemic-era fashion accessories back out of the drawer.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther says he’ll issue an executive order that would take effect Friday requiring all residents, regardless of vaccination status, to wear face masks indoors to battle the surge in COVID-19 cases, which he says has stretched health care facilities “to the breaking point.”
“This isn’t about shutting down and giving up,” Ginther said during a news conference on the steps of the Columbus Public Health headquarters on Parsons Avenue Wednesday afternoon.
“This is about keeping Columbus safe and open for business by employing a strategy we know can slow the spread of COVID-19,” Ginther said.
Ginther says Columbus City Council will take up legislation mandating mask-wearing at its Sept. 13 meeting, believing that legislative action will strengthen the city’s ability to withstand court challenges to the ban, which is not subject to a statewide ban on mandates issued by health agencies.
The ban immediately drew a hostile reception from some conservatives.
“There is little to no evidence that mandatory masking does anything to stop the spread of COVID, but the harm forced masking is doing to our children is impossible to calculate…We should be willing to learn the lessons of the last 18 months and stop with mandates that do nothing,” Republican U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance wrote in a statement issued within minutes of Ginther’s announcement.
Reportedly, Bexley and Whitehall were also considering issuing mask mandates.
The revived mandate is a result of the delta variant of the coronavirus, which is filling hospitals, sickening alarming numbers of children and driving coronavirus deaths in some places to the highest levels of the entire pandemic. School systems across the country that reopened their classrooms are abruptly switching back to remote learning because of outbreaks.
The U.S. death toll stands at more than 650,000, with one major forecast model projecting it will top 750,000 by Dec. 1.
“This extremely contagious virus is spreading like wildfire,” Columbus Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts said.
More than 2,500 COVID cases were reported in Columbus last week, an increase of 37% over the previous week and only 46% of Columbus residents are fully vaccinated, compared to nearly 49% statewide, Roberts said.
The surge in cases comes amid a shortage of health care workers as many left the profession due to the stress of handling the pandemic, now over 18 months old, Ginther said.
In Columbus, and the rest of Ohio, more than 26% of all COVID cases are children under the age of 18 and 17.8% are under 14.
Biden administration’s full-court press
President Joe Biden is set to outline a six-pronged federal effort to boost COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant of the coronavirus that is killing thousands each week and jeopardizing the nation’s economic recovery.
The White House says Biden’s afternoon speech Thursday will encourage vaccinations for those who haven’t had a shot and promote new ways to protect those who are vaccinated. He’ll also push efforts to safely keep schools open, as well as new ways to boost testing and promote mask requirements. And he’ll emphasize steps to boost the economic recovery and moves to improve treatment for those with COVID-19.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that Biden would encourage vaccine mandates for workforces and schools.
“We know that increasing vaccinations will stop the spread of the pandemic, will get the pandemic under control, will return people to normal life. That’s what our objective is,” she said.
Columbus Public Health is planning to extend its “Vax for Cash” incentive program, which awards $100 gift cards to those who get vaccinations, Roberts said.
Roberts says only about 46% of the Columbus population is fully vaccinated, compared with 48,6% of the statewide population.
The city had handed out 13,000 of the gift cards as of Sept. 3 and was vaccinating between 300 and 500 people per day, she said.