AURORA | Conversations about mandating face coverings in Aurora to prevent the spread of COVID-19 continue, but only an educational campaign stands for now.
Mayor Mike Coffman said on Facebook following a virtual meeting on Monday that he was prepared to propose a “30-day mandate for wearing masks in grocery stores because vulnerable seniors have little recourse but to go there to buy food or pick up prescriptions.”
But he didn’t end up pitching his idea at all during the meeting.
Coffman, the city council and Dr. John Douglas, executive director of Tri-County Health, discussed masks, education and why the department would instead embark on a marketing campaign encouraging people to wear cloth face coverings in public instead of making a public health order like other municipalities in the metro region.
Coffman told the Sentinel he didn’t pitch his proposal because Dr. Douglas didn’t endorse a mask mandate during the meeting.
Douglas said that from observations made by health department staff, most Aurorans seem to be wearing masks when they head out to grocery stores. Most recently, Douglas said health department staff observed about 1,200 people going into 10 Aurora grocery stores. 82 percent were wearing face coverings, he said. That’s higher than the 75 percent observed about a week earlier.
A mandate likely wouldn’t cause a significant change in the number of people who refuse to wear face coverings, Douglas told council members when asked. At a virtual board of health meeting last week he said in a presentation that “…there is some indication that ordering potentially useful step such as face covering would lead some who might otherwise be inclined to use them not to do so as an act of defiance.”
Douglas said he believes at this point, with many people in Aurora already complying with local, state and federal recommendations, an educational campaign is the best course of action right now. He and other health officials will evaluate the campaign as more data about a mandate in other areas becomes available.
“I am pulling back my proposal for now but plan to re-evaluate the situation in early June after the Tri-County Health Department has had the opportunity to promote the wearing of masks through their upcoming campaign which they will soon be launching,” Coffman said on Facebook.