According to Huntington Mayor Richard Strick, a mask mandate placed as an executive order per Indiana State Governor Eric Holcomb is currently in effect.

Mayor Strick said the city’s announcement Tuesday was to provide clarity for the Huntington County community. Law enforcement officials will help local residents do the right thing, Strick says.

According to Strick, not wearing a mask is a civil infraction, not a criminal infraction.

“If there’s a civil infraction or there’s a ticket, a violation is issued in this case. This comes after this person has already had a written warning and a previous incident with a police officer with the same issue and they had a second incident with the same officer or a different officer entirely. Really, by the time we get to talking about a citation and a fine, it’s after this person has repeatedly refused to adhere to the rules operating in these private business establishments,” Mayor Strick said.

As for precautions to be followed, Mayor Strick advises local residents to be safe.

Hand washing, not gathering in large crowds and wearing masks can prevent the spread of disease. While many Northeast counties are in the red zone for disease spread, Huntington County is in the orange zone. Mayor Strick said it may be a matter time before Huntington County is in the red zone as well.

“I think that’s very possible because of the way that the virus spreads. Recent reports demonstrate that 50 to 60 percent of the spread comes from people that are asymptomatic meaning they feel just fine the entire time and they never experience the symptoms of COVID-19, or they’re pre-symptomatic. The first three to five days they’re infected and spreading it, but their symptoms haven’t shown up, yet. That’s what makes this thing so tricky is that it’s very good at hiding before it spreads to additional contact and people which is one of the reasons why the contact tracing is so important. We need people to help with that,” Mayor Strick said.

When public health officials measure the spread of the virus, they use two key metrics. Huntington County Communications Coordinator Kevin Krauskopf said the first is the 7-Day Positivity Rate Moving Average, which measures the rate of positive tests coming back. Krauskopf said Huntington County’s rate stayed between three to five percent spread on average. Over the past several weeks, the Indiana State Department of Health reported rates for Huntington County that have approached and surpassed 10 percent.

“This indicates a high level of community spread. The second metric is the number of weekly new cases per 100,000 residents. Huntington County for the past weeks has stayed well above the highest risk threshold of 200 new cases per 100,000 residents. The numbers show a clear surge is taking place now, and it is placing a lot of strain on our hospitals and health care workers,” Krauskopf said.

To alleviate the costs of sanitation supplies and masks, Mayor Strick said the United Way of Huntington County and Pathfinders Services partnered with an organization called Livinguard to provide 3,000 masks. Mayor Strick said these newly purchased masks will be more comfortable and effective than some of the masks the local residents are used to.

“These masks can be used by nonprofit workers to government employees and also to other members of the community. We know in the next few weeks and months the ability to be able to use a mask that is safe and easy to maintain and take care of, most importantly is comfortable, will be a really critical tool for our community. Livinguard matched our 3,000 mask orders with an additional 3,000 masks. We have a total of 6,000 masks coming to the community that will help distribute to those who want them and want to use them. That’s one way we’re trying to help our community do the right thing,” Mayor Strick said.

For the time being, Mayor Strick said to be cautiously optimistic. He said as long as the community follows the rules that are put into place, the spread of the virus could decline. According to Mayor Strick, the community needs to reconnect with humanity.

“We need to get back to that again. We need to remember what it means to be neighbors. We need to remember what it means to be gracious with one another. I know a lot of people are angry. My job is to listen to them and hear them out and be gracious in receiving that feedback. Regardless if that feedback is personally insulting to me or not. My job is to lead well and serve well right now. There’s a good number of folks in our community who I think are relieved. They are trying to do the right thing. We are all interrelated in this and each of us in our actions impact the people around us both positively and negatively. We need to remember that human piece.”
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