Riley County commissioners will look into extending the current mask mandate into Manhattan in the next local health order.
Approval was given to have language that includes the City of Manhattan when looking into Local Health Order No. 21. The reason this was brought up during Monday’s meeting was due to the possibility of Manhattan’s mandate expiring April 1st.
County Counselor Clancy Holeman says the current Local Health Order No. 20 does not include Manhattan, since the city has had a mandate in place. The health order only includes the rural areas and smaller cities throughout the county.
Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs says, after discussing this issue with health constituents in the community, they feel it would be best to extend the mandate through at least the school year. The date they agreed upon is May 16.
“We have about 16% of our population already vaccinated. That in mind, such a low percent and we just released a lot of restrictions from Order No. 20, we should go ahead and extend that,” says Gibbs.
K-State Director of Community Relations was also in favor of the date and urged the commission for the extension.
‘We are seeing light at the end of the tunnel and we don’t want to lose ground on the progress we have made,” says Cook.
Commissioners agreed on the date and extension, but are also waiting on the Manhattan City commission’s decision during their meeting Tuesday. The city commission has approved first reading for its extension, however it is uncertain if they will vote to extend the mandate on second reading.
Commission Chair John Ford says they have time until then to iron out all of the details once a decision is made. However, he is more concerned with what may come down from the state.
Ford is happy with having an end date for the mandate, saying it helps show the community that county is working towards some kind of ending point.
“Whether or not the end occurs officially, at least we are doing something to get to that time,” says Ford.
Ford also says he is optimistic the metrics of the spread will side in their favor. He does think there will be an uptick in cases, but says it will most likely be from the younger population and not increase the severity.
Commissioner Greg McKinley also likes the idea of keeping the mandate in place until students leave. His reasoning is that the city’s population will change with students leaving for the summer.
“That does give us through the summer to see what happens when school starts again in the Fall. Population reduces, which helps everything,” says McKinley.
Commissioner Kathryn Focke was also in favor, but wants the option to go back and make changes in the event numbers get worse before the end date.
One issue the commission brought up is that the county will not be able to enforce masks on the Pottawatomie side of Manhattan. However, EMS Director David Adams has heard from the retailers on that side, that they will continue to require masks in their stores.
Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 will have to adopt its own mask policy, as the commission does not have authority.
