The Wyandotte County COVID-19 health and mask orders will expire on Friday night, May 28.
The Unified Government Commission voted down a motion to continue the health orders for another 30 days, 7-2, at the Thursday night meeting.
No further action was taken, which means the health order expires at 11:59 p.m. Friday, May 28.
Dr. Allen Greiner, chief medical officer for Wyandotte County, said the county is in nearly the same place it was 10 days ago when the UG Commission had a tie vote on whether to end the health orders.
Juliann Van Liew, UG Health Department director, said the county’s seven-day rolling average of positive cases was about eight cases, about as low as it has been, and the percent positivity was about 7 percent, a historic low for the county.
Dr. Erin Corriveau, deputy health officer, said about 32.7 percent of residents have had at least one dose of the vaccine. Those who are fully vaccinated are about 27.1 percent of the population.
Unfortunately, the majority of the county residents remain unvaccinated at this time, she added.
Residents may still wear masks if they want, and businesses may still require masks, according to UG officials.
UG Commissioner Tom Burroughs said inconsistency in communications among the Core 4 caused some grief. He said residents will be appreciative and understanding of Wyandotte County following the CDC guidelines.
Commissioner Brian McKiernan, who also supported letting the mandate expire, said, “If you feel more comfortable wearing a mask in any setting, wear one, by all means.”
Commissioner Jane Philbrook said doctors’ offices will still require masks under the CDC guidelines, and she asked residents to respect businesses that still require them.
“Kind of tongue-in-cheek, I’m throwing the idea out there that we don’t need to have a lot of conversation tonight,” Dr. Greiner said at the meeting.
He said there may be some things they can propose in the coming days about how to get the vaccination numbers up.
“We’ve got to focus on protecting those who are not vaccinated, getting them convinced to do that, and protecting those who might be immunocompromised or vulnerable,” he said.
Commissioner Gayle Townsend proposed that the commission extend the health order for another 30 days. She said they should be very concerned that only 27 percent of the county is fully vaccinated.
Commissioners Townsend and Christian Ramirez voted for the extension for 30 days, and the rest of the commissioners voted against it. Commissioner Mike Kane was absent.
Commissioner Ramirez supported the commission adopting the CDC guidelines, but the commission did not do that. Commissioner Ramirez was concerned that there might be a “free-for-all” otherwise.
Commissioner Harold Johnson said they should not presuppose that just because they’re hearing from a lot of people to end the health order, that they speak for the entire community. The county’s vaccination rate still lags the state, he said. There are more voices here than they have heard in the telephone calls and emails, he added.
The former April 29 order had required people to wear masks indoors, but it had lifted the requirements to wear them outdoors. The former order did allow people to gather without masks indoors if they had all been vaccinated.
Wyandotte County was the last of the Core 4 local governments to drop its mask order.
The UG Commission meeting May 27 is on YouTube, toward the end of the 2.5-hour meeting, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl7X7HWKASg.
To see an earlier story about the May 17 vote and meeting, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/mask-order-stays-in-place-in-wyandotte-county/.
The date the older ordinance expires, and other information about the mask ordinance passed April 29, which loosened restrictions in Wyandotte County, is online at https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/updatedwycomaskorder04302021.pdf. The mask order is online at https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/amend-lho-may-6-2021.pdf.
What about the courthouses? Open for business or appointments are still needed?