CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — Charlotte County Board of Commissioners met Tuesday morning to discuss whether or not to mandate the use of masks in public places and businesses.
Ultimately, commissioners decided not to mandate the use; instead, the county will continue to highly encourage people to use masks and leave it up to businesses to impose their own rules.
This decision comes after the Florida health department sent out an advisory on Saturday advising people to keep wearing face coverings in any setting where social distancing is not possible.
During Tuesday's board meeting, several people spoke before the commissioners, both for and against the mandate.
"I feel very strongly that it should be mandatory," said Sally Simone of Charlotte County.
Commissioners spent over an hour hearing public comments and discussing whether or not to adopt a mandate mask ordinance similar to the one Hillsborough County imposed.
The big question during the meeting was: how will the mask mandate be enforced?
"It puts the onus on business owners to enforce a county ordinance or law to require face masks, so what's going to happen in a store when someone walks in without a mask on, who has to carry that enforcement onus," said Gleason.
Businesses can already deny service to people not wearing masks without a mandate in place — similar to that of no shoes, no shirt, no service.
"We've seen that a lot of businesses in the community have been putting up social distancing reminders. There are some businesses that require consumers to wear masks," said Gleason.
Sally Simone says she was disappointed with the county's decision and thinks wearing masks shouldn't be left up for individuals to decide.
"I'm 72-years old, I have a pre-existing condition, I'm protecting me for me, and I'm protecting y'all from me in case I have something," said Simone.
But others say the county made the right move.
"I think if you're predisposed to this illness like if you have asthma, you should wear a mask, but I don't think everyone else should have to wear a mask," said Hardy Whidden of Charlotte County.
The county says it will continue to monitor the situation and have weekly COVID-19 response meetings.
People and business owners can pick up free masks at the Department of Health in Charlotte County.
