TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas governor and his top public health official said Thursday that they fear the state may not reopen its K-12 schools for the new school year in August if it does not reverse a recent increase in reported coronavirus cases.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly told legislative leaders that the desire to reopen schools is a key reason for her executive order requiring Kansas residents to wear masks in public and at their workplaces. The order takes effect at 12:01 am Friday, with a fine of up to $ 2,500 possible for violators.
“The trend is going in the wrong direction,” Kelly said during a meeting to review her request. “If we continue that way, we will not be able to open our schools for classroom learning in the fall.”
Kelly and other state officials do not expect strict enforcement of the infringement prosecution decisions left to prosecutors in each of the state’s 105 counties. Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, may pursue violations, but said he will leave them to local officials.
In addition, counties may choose to walk out of the order under a new pandemic law that went into effect in June and resulted from a compromise between Kelly and lawmakers.
In Sedgwick County, home to Wichita, the state’s largest city, commissioners voted 3-2 on Thursday to strongly recommend that people follow Kelly’s order but not make it a mandate. Republican Commissioner Michael O’Donnell compared a mandate to the required dress codes for women in “Middle Eastern countries.”
“I just don’t think he’s American,” said O’Donnell.
The governor and Dr. Lee Norman, his health secretary, said the goal is to increase people’s use of masks to control the spread of the new coronavirus. Norman told legislative leaders that Kansas could prevent more than 11,500 new cases of coronavirus between now and October 1 with a mask mandate.
“The last thing we want is to open schools and hundreds of children get sick and schools would have to close,” said House of Representatives minority leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat. “We have to get this under control before the schools open.”
Kelly’s order does not apply to Legislature meetings or courts, but the Kansas Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the use of masks in court proceedings.
The governor lifted state restrictions on business and public meetings and allowed counties to set their own rules on May 26 after weeks of complaints from Republican lawmakers that she was moving too slowly to reopen the economy.
And conservative Republican legislative leaders said their mask order violates personal liberties and creates confusion about what activities were allowed without masks. Kelly’s chief attorney acknowledged that unmasked baseball games are likely to be allowed, while pickup basketball games may require covering your face.
Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, said people would have responded better to public service announcements.
“They are very resentful of a mandate that collapses with an iron fist,” Wagle said.
State officials received good news related to the coronavirus on Thursday. Tax collection in June, about $ 744 million, exceeded the state’s official forecast by almost $ 136 million, or 22.3%.
The state had cut revenue projections in April to account for the economic downturn that followed the close of business, leaving a projected deficit in the current budget.
Kansas has reported nearly 15,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus since the pandemic began in early March and 272 COVID-19-related deaths as of Wednesday.
Since Kelly lifted state restrictions on businesses and public gatherings immediately after Memorial Day, Kansas has had 5,653 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, a 61% increase and an additional 84 deaths, a jump of 45%.
In Johnson County in the Kansas City area, the state’s most populous county, county commissioners voted 4-2 on Thursday to fulfill the governor’s mandate, The Kansas City Star reported. Neighboring Wyandotte County and the Douglas County, home to the main campus of the University of Kansas, already required masks.
Shawnee County commissioners voted 3-0 to delay the bars’ restriction to operate seven hours a day and close at 10 p.m., until Tuesday, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. The county health officer had ordered the restrictions begin on Thursday.
Norman said that if growth in Kansas coronavirus cases does not start to slow this month, the reopening of schools will not be certain. Kelly closed all of the state’s K-12 buildings in March, moving the state’s 519,000 public school students largely to online learning.
The governor’s latest order says Kansas residents must wear masks in indoor public spaces, while seeking medical attention or using public transportation. It also says that people should wear them outdoors in public when they can’t stay at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) from others.
Companies must require employees to wear masks in places frequented by the public or if they prepare food.
The requirement would not apply to children under the age of 6, deaf people, or people with medical conditions that make it difficult to breathe through a mask or who cannot remove a mask without help.
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