A Message from Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard
Following a meeting yesterday with the 6 municipal mayors, the Superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and the Dare County Sheriff, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard has released a video message for the Dare County community.
“On Thursday, we met for the 42nd time since the COVID19 outbreak. It had been almost a month since the last meeting and the topic yesterday was specifically face masks and whether they should be mandatory. After receiving feedback from our citizens, I thought it was important to bring the group together to discuss this issue and reach a consensus. The group determined that the wearing of face masks will continue to be strongly encouraged but not mandatory. The main reason for this is the inability to enforce a mandatory mask requirement,” remarked Woodard in the video.
“We have had 10 new cases of COVID 19 since allowing visitors to return to the Outer Banks on May 16. During this same time we have had nearly 800,000 visitors to the Outer Banks and I am thankful that the numbers have stayed relatively low. We must all remain vigilant and do our part to keep the numbers low. Wearing a mask, requiring masks in your local business, practicing social distancing and frequently washing our hands are proactive steps we can all take to protect our safety and the health of our community.”
The video is available for streaming Dare County’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/DareCounty. It has also been shared on Dare County’s Twitter account @DareCountyGovt. The video will be broadcast on Current TV Government Channel 191 for local Spectrum TV customers. CurrentTV’s programming schedule and additional programming is available for viewing on-demand at CurrentTV.org.
800,000 visitors and the restaurants are open. Dare’s Covid cases increased by 10… The unconstitutional blockade during the spring looks more and more ridiculous by the day.
Agree 100%
‘Inability to enforce’
Just call it what it is, UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Even thinking about trying to force US citizens to wear something is as socialist as a wannabe dictatorship can get. If government can force folks to wear masks they could force them to wear hijabs.
Remember that a group of religious folks were forced to wear the Star of David on their clothing in the 1940s.
How about this idea, “My body, my choice”?
Dare County is making a mistake with this. Coming from an area where Covid restrictions are in place I was surprised to see stores here where the cashiers were not wearing face masks and only about 50% of the customers and staff were. Even if it can’t be easily enforced, most people and stores would follow a mandatory order. Dare’s Covid case load is enviable, as a result of the spring closure, however with people flocking in from all over now the case load is bound to increase. Posting signs that face masks are mandatory in stores and indoor public gathering places will protect both the citizens of Dare and the visitors. People can socially distance outdoors without masks as wind will likely blow away most infectious aerosols, but indoors aerosols and droplets linger. I think the low caseload so far has lulled Dare into a false sense of security, and the local people are being too overconfident. I hope I’m wrong.