West Lafayette’s mayor announced Monday an immediate requirement that face coverings be worn inside all places of business open to the public, all city facilities, public transportation and high-density workplaces.
The order from Republican Mayor John Dennis cited the city’s high population density and the expected upcoming return of Purdue University students as risks for spreading COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
A mask requirement announced by Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke is scheduled to take effect Wednesday. Winnecke pointed to consecutive days of Vanderburgh County recording its highest number of confirmed coronavirus infections when he announced the mandate on Friday.
Many people were wearing masks on their own, Winnecke said, “but the numbers show that more people need to.”
The true number of cases is likely far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick.
Bloomington and Monroe County officials are not yet mandating the use of facemasks in public, though this will likely be part of the county’s next health order.
Monroe County Health administrator Penny Caudill announced there will be a new health order in the next couple of weeks, and that it would go into effect no later than the end of July.
"We do need masks as a vital part of prevention. That is true whether we have a requirement for that or it’s recommended. That’s just a personal action we should all be taking," Caudill said last week.
Caudill said many community members have spoken in favor of a mask mandate. The County Health Department has stressed the importance of individuals using facemasks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the hope that a requirement wouldn’t be necessary.
Hospitals around the state had 764 coronavirus patients as of Sunday, according tothe Indiana State Department of Health.That is the most since June 19, but that number is about half the cases the state saw in much of April and early May. Hospitalizations had fallen to as low as 595 on June 26.
Deaths have continued to decline, with health officials adding two COVID-19 deaths on Monday to the state’s total of 2,762 confirmed or presumed coronavirus deaths since mid-March.
