Manatee County Narrowly Approves Mask Requirement

BRADENTON, FL — Manatee County commissioners narrowly approved a resolution Monday to impose a mask order but the order will not affect anyone who lives in the county’s largest city.

“I never ever thought I would be in a situation where local government would have to do this, but we live in a state where the governor has chosen not to do it,” Chairwoman Betsy Benac said. “We live in a country where the president has chosen not to do it. It has fallen down to local government for us to make a decision.”

The resolution requires every person inside businesses to wear a face covering unless they remain a minimum of 6 feet from other people or are exempted for other reasons. Children five and under are exempt from the mask order as are those "who have trouble breathing due to a chronic pre-existing condition or individuals with a documented or demonstrable medical problem."

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Commissioners Benac, Reggie Bellamy, Carol Whitmore and Misty Servia voted in favor of imposing the mask measure, which takes effect immediately.

“We should not have to mandate this,but the reality is we do have to mandate it because people aren’t wearing masks,” Benac told commissioners. “They don’t think that it’s necessary.”

Commissioners Stephen R. Jonsson, Priscilla Trace and Vanessa Baugh voted against the face covering measure.

“I think it’s wrong on so many different levels, but I think it will pass,” predicted Jonsson in casting his vote by phone. “I think it’s a bad decision that we’re making, bad policy decision.”

The county's face covering resolution will not affect Bradenton, which is the largest city in Manatee County, or any other municipality that already has a similar resolution or ordinance even if they are less stringent than the county measure.

Bradenton’s ordinance requires businesses to post signs that encourage customers to wear masks, but not to actually wear them.

It is up to individual business owners to decide whether they will require customers to wear masks under the ordinance that took effect on July 17.

A number of residents, including at least one medical doctor, spoke against the county measure on various grounds. Some argued healthy people should not have to wear face coverings, while others said most masks do little to protect the wearer.

Others said there is no scientific evidence to back up the need for face coverings while still others argued such a measure is an unnecessary infringement on individual rights.

Manatee commissioners also voted unanimously Monday against pursuing a face covering ordinance at this time, but they may be asked to do so if the resolution is challenged in court.

“This is hopefully a temporary action,” We’re not going to have people in masks forever,” Benac said.

The resolution requires law enforcement officers to give people a warning before issuing a first citation, which carries a penalty of $50. Second citations cost $125 while third and subsequent citations each carry a $250 penalty.

Manatee County reported 7,982 confirmed cases of the virus as of Monday with 474 hospitalizations and 156 deaths.

Dr. Jennifer Bencie, director of the Florida Department of Health in Manatee County, told commissioners that masks prevent droplets from evaporating into smaller droplets that would otherwise travel further.

“There’s enough evidence to say at this point that the best benefit is for the people who have COVID, to protect them to giving it to other people,” Bencie said. “But now we’re still seeing a benefit from wearing the mask even if you don’t have COVID yourself.”

She said some 48 percent of all the people in Manatee County who tested positive for the virus were asymptomatic.

“Researchers have found that pre-symptomatic people shed the virus at an extremely high rate similar to the seasonal flu,” Bencie said. “But people with the flu don’t normally shed virus until they have symptoms.”

She said 875 children in Manatee County have tested positive for the virus.

“In children, we’re seeing more of the asymptomatic cases than in adults, so they are the ones who can spread the virus,” according to the doctor. “These are the number of positive cases. Fortunately, we have not had any deaths in children in the county. Unfortunately, we are seeing that throughout the state.”

The doctor said there have been 5,743 people in Manatee County who have recovered from the virus.