Dr. Robert Rogers speaks at news conference announcing Tarrant County's face mask requirements.
Tarrant County, in a move to combat surging new cases of COVID-19 and related hospitalizations, will require the wearing of masks inside businesses and other entities providing goods and services to the public beginning Friday evening and running through Aug. 3, County Judge Glen Whitley announced Thursday.
Whitley announced the order during a news conference from the Tarrant County Commissioners Court room downtown, alongside Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams, Burleson Mayor Ken Shetter, county public health director Vinny Taneja, and a group of physicians. Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price connected from her home via a televised link.
“This has gotten away from being a health issue and become a political issue,” Whitley said. “This is not a political issue. It’s an issue of whether we’re going to have respect for the folks around us who are neighbors.”
Williams implored citizens to respect the order and not “revolt.” “That’s the worst thing that could possibly happen,” he said.
Whitley’s order goes into effect at 6 p.m. Friday, and runs through 6 a.m. Aug. 3, unless extended, modified, or terminated early by Whitley or the Commissioners Court.
Under the order:
- All entities in the county that provide goods or services directly to the public must develop and implement a health and safety policy.
- Under it, employees and visitors must wear face coverings indoors while “in an area or performing an activity which will necessarily involve close contact or proximity to co-workers or the public.”
- People with an “operational need to remove a face covering” may do so, so long as those needs are specified in the policy.
- Entities must post this policy in a “conspicuous location.”
- Failure to develop and implement the policy within five calendar days could result in a fine of up to $1,000, under Texas law.
- Outdoors, except for any exceptions provided under Governor Greg Abbott’s executive orders, individuals in areas open to the public are required to wear masks, where it’s estimated that 100 people or more are present.
- Indoors or out, people are not required to wear masks if “covering the nose and mouth poses a significant mental or physical health risk to the individual.”
For restaurant operators offering dine-in service, Whitley said, “what I envision happening is you come to the front door. The owner (or employees) makes sure people have masks on. When they sit down, then they can take their masks off.” Customers who want to move about the restaurant to use the restroom or visit with friends should put their mask back on, he said. "That’s kind of our thought process about that."
Peace officers and others with lawful authority are authorized to enforce the order. Asked by a reporter how the order can be enforced, Whitley said, “We’re not going to put people in jail, but what may happen is you may have someone who comes up and asks you to leave the area if you’re not wearing a mask … Our goal in life is to not put people in jail. It’s to get voluntary compliance.”
Whitley recounted the county’s experience with COVID-19 since it began surging earlier in the spring. While diagnoses began to ease up into June, in the last seven days, the county has added 2,277 cases, to a total 10,400, Whitley said. The week prior, the county added 1,279 cases.
In the last two weeks, hospital cases in the county have surged to 322 from 204, Whitley said. Deaths moved to 218 from 191.
Whitley and the county’s mayors convened virtually on Wednesday to discuss the possible order, Whitley said. “There wasn’t a single individual who was opposed,” he said.
With the upcoming July 4 holiday, vacations, children going to camps, and “any number of things,” the judge and mayors decided an order requiring face coverings was the right move. “We believe that masks are our best alternative at this time,” Whitley said. Closing down the economy again would be a last stand, he said. “That’s really our last alternative.”
Whitley, the mayors, Taneja and the physicians in attendance said they were following the data and research.
“We’ve been following the science,” said Dr. Susan Bailey, a Fort Worth allergist and immunologist who took over as president of the American Medical Association earlier in June. “This needs to be about science and research, and not about emotion and politics. There were a lot of people walking around who had COVID and were spreading it to others.”
Addressing the yearning for normalcy, Bailey said, “Back to business doesn’t mean business as usual. We’re going to have to do things differently for a while until we get this very deadly disease under control.”
Dr. Robert Rogers, a Fort Worth allergist and immunologist and representative of the Tarrant County Medical Society, said wearing a mask is "one of the most effective tools we have."
"Wear a mask, be a good citizen, be a good friend, be a compassionate citizen," he said.
Price, who continues to self-isolate after being exposed to a community member with COVID-19 (but testing negative), agreed.
“It’s not comfortable; it’s not cool [to wear a mask]," she said. "But COVID is not comfortable; it’s not cool."
