County Health Commissioner supports statewide mask order

CLARK COUNTY — If Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issues a statewide mandatory mask order during his next briefing Tuesday, he will have the support of the Clark County Health Commissioner Charles Patterson. It comes even though Clark County is now at Level Two in the state’s Public Health Advisory System and not covered by the mask mandate.

“The CDC (Centers For Disease Control) director came out last week and said if everyone wore a mask for a few weeks we might be able to get a handle on this virus. So we are certainly pushing the masking. We think that’s an effective way to slow it down,” Patterson said.

Clark county currently is averaging 45 to 55 new confirmed COVID-19 cases every week.

Speculation about what DeWine will order next ramped up again after he said in a network TV interview last weekend that he would issue new health orders this week.

Among the possibilities, beyond the mask order, could be more restrictions for bars. The state has been able to trace a growing number of new cases back to people failing to social distance at bars and contracting the virus.

At his last briefing the governor said his goal is to keep people safe and not allow Ohio to follow the path of states like Florida and Texas, which have had even higher increases in cases than seen here.

DeWine had issued a statewide order back in April, then rejected it the following day after it was not well received by the public.

This time it could stay in force if the governor chooses to go in that direction.     

“We are very supportive of that. Science tells us it works and the other thing is we have been supportive of the Governor all the way through this,” Patterson said.

DeWine’s next briefing is Tuesday at 2 pm. WHIO-TV will have live coverage from Columbus on air and on the station Facebook page.

Cox Media Group