Southeast Tennessee's rural counties say no to mask mandate for now

Leaders of rural counties across Southeast Tennessee didn't immediately follow suit after Hamilton County's mayor on Monday directed the health department to order residents to wear masks in public.

The Hamilton County mandate started Friday in an effort to stem the rising spread of coronavirus cases.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed an order July 3 granting 89 counties the authority to issue local mask requirements if COVID-19 cases spike, after county governments expressed a need for more flexibility to address increases in positive case numbers.

"It's a targeted approach to ensure that our public health response matches the realities on the ground in a given community, and it avoids an ineffective, one-size-fits-all approach," Lee said.

However, despite a growing number of cases in the region, mayors are opting not to use their newfound power to require face masks in public.

In Bradley County, new COVID-19 cases are growing faster than any other county in Southeast Tennessee for the size of its population. However, the mayor said he has no plans to require citizens to wear face masks.

Over the past week, Bradley County averaged 38.8 new cases per 100,000 residents compared to neighboring Hamilton County, which has the second highest growth rate of new cases per its population size in the region, with an average of 18.4 new cases per day per 100,000 people.

No mask mandates

While there are no mask mandates among surrounding rural counties, wearing a mask remains a very strong recommendation, and rural leaders, including a city mayor who has tested positive for COVID-19, urge mask use and remind everyone there are other guidelines to follow as part of the coronavirus battle plan, too.

"I am not mandating it for the citizens of Bradley County, however, we are strongly encouraging, strongly recommending, that masks be worn at all times in public," Bradley County Mayor D. Gary Davis said this week of his remarks to Bradley County commissioners last Monday.

"In addition to masks, I reminded everyone of all of the guidelines - washing of hands, hand sanitizer, the 6-foot [distancing] rule, avoiding crowds and the masks," Davis said, noting visitors must wear a mask to enter county offices. "All those guidelines together is what's going to get this down. Right now, we're just talking about masks, and we're forgetting the 6-foot rule, forgetting the crowds and forgetting the hand sanitizer and all those things.

"It's not any one of those, it's all of those together," Davis said.

"I've read all the arguments both ways and I understand both sides and both sides have some good points, I will admit. But at the same time, it may not help, but it can't hurt, so please do it," Davis said.

For Kevin Brooks, the mayor of Bradley County's seat of Cleveland, COVID-19 is a stark reality with his recent diagnosis of double pneumonia followed by a secondary diagnosis of the coronavirus.

"I am making this statement to ask everyone to wear a mask when in public," Brooks said in a statement issued Wednesday thanking his supporters and calling for everyone to take the recommended precautions. "If not for me, then do it for your family and your loved ones. This is a very dangerous disease. And we can slow this local increase and spread.

"I am a rule follower. I am a hand-washer. I am a hand-sanitizer. I am a social distancer," Brooks said. "Alone, these actions were not enough. We also need to add wearing masks in public areas."

In his statement, Brooks urged, "Don't wait to be asked, wear a mask."

Recent case spikes

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says a face covering can protect the wearer and others from getting the virus, and notes masks are most effective when widely used in public. But it's the idea of making mask wearing a rule that rural counties resist.

(READ MORE: How to wear a mask to prevent spread of COVID-19: Chattanooga officials, CDC provide tips)

"McMinn County will join the vast majority of Tennessee counties in exercising the recommendation rather than the requirement provision of Executive Order 54," McMinn County Mayor John Gentry said in a statement issued Wednesday. Gentry said he was glad Lee left the decision to county leaders.

McMinn's LifeCare Center of Athens, Tennessee, by mid-May tallied a dozen deaths from the virus among 120 confirmed cases. Two more deaths were reported between mid-May and early June when LifeCare officials reported the facility was free of the virus.

Gentry said McMinn County residents "acted responsibly" during the pandemic and that now there are fewer than 80 active COVID-19 cases in the county of around 55,000.

"The positive rate remains low at less than 5% of those tested, and when the outbreak at LifeCare Center is removed from those numbers, the positive rate of tested individuals drops to just 3%," Gentry said.

"While we do believe the use of masks, social distancing and good hygiene practices are effective in reducing the spread of the virus, we do not believe that responsible behavior has to be mandated to our citizens," he said. Gentry said the executive order's "numerous exceptions" is more reason not to ask law enforcement to "enforce an unenforceable regulation."