METAIRIE, La. — They were all over the place in Jefferson Parish Wednesday — masks.
And opinions about the required face coverings have been all over the place as well.
“It’s been proven to work,” Kathy Wells said before heading into a Metairie store with her husband, Rick, on Wednesday.
“We’ve been doing it all along since before it was mandatory,” Rick Wells said.
Not everyone agreed with the new mandate, however.
“It’s a burden on the small business owners to be the enforcer for the government,” said Dawn Starns with the Louisiana chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng announced the mask mandate earlier this week. The controversial mandate comes as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in the parish.
The editorial in Wednesday morning’s The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate called for more mask requirements across the state. Opposite the newspaper’s opinion, columnist Dan Fagan questioned the move in Jefferson Parish.
Doctors have argued that the topic isn’t political.
“This is not a question of whether or not you vote a particular way or whatever your political beliefs are; this is a public health measure that decreases the likelihood that you can become infected,” said Dr. Benjamin Springgate with LSU Health.
The parish has asked anyone who sees violations of the mask mandate to let them know. So far, 876 complaints have come in since Friday.
Businesses get a warning if they’re not in compliance. Fines could follow after that.
RELATED: Orleans Parish Schools 20-21: Face masks, no field trips, heavy cleanings, remote and in-class
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