Shelby Co. Health Dept: Masks now mandatory throughout Shelby County, not just Memphis.

This story has been updated with information from the Shelby County Health Department clarifying the age of those required to wear a mask. It has also been updated to add information about the evolving legal basis for the mask directive. 

Masks are now mandatory in all of Shelby County, the county health department said Friday. The health directive that made masks mandatory took effect at 6 p.m. Friday. 

The decision from the health department follows a mask mandate implemented in Memphis a week ago. The mandate applies to everyone 2 and over, according to Health Director Alisa Haushalter. At a press conference Friday, Haushalter originally said the mandate applied to those 12 and younger — a statement she since clarified.

The directive does not mention any penalties for people violating it.  

The announcement of a mask mandate throughout Shelby County came the same day it reported a new record day-over-day increase of COVID-19 cases — 442. Shelby County also hit an all-time high of 282 COVID-19 patients in area hospitals. 

The seven-day average of new cases in Shelby County reached 314 on Friday, up from 200 cases a day a week earlier and up 398% from May 18 — the day Shelby County entered Phase 2 of its “Back to Business” plan, where it still remains.

At a news conference Friday, Haushalter said the rise in cases is “significantly disconcerting” and that further business regulations could come for bars and restaurants or similar businesses next week. 

Evolving legal basis for directive

Over the past several weeks, the health department had previously said it did not know if it had the legal authority to enforce a mask mandate and was instead strongly recommending them.

That changed after Nashville’s Metro Board of Health enacted a mask mandate last week, Haushalter said.

Nashville, which has a consolidated city-county government, mandated masks through its board of health and paved the way for Shelby County to follow suit. It clarified what had been an “evolving” legal opinion about whether Haushalter and health officer Bruce Randolph could issue such a mandate, Haushalter said.

Then, later Friday, Gov. Bill Lee issued an executive order giving county mayors in 89 Tennessee counties to issue mask mandates. In announcing the order, the governor’s office said six counties with locally run health departments, which includes Shelby, already had authority to require masks. 

“The six counties with locally run health departments including Sullivan, Knox, Hamilton, Davidson, Madison and Shelby counties retain the existing authority to issue mask requirements as needed,” Lee’s office said in a statement accompanying the executive order.

The order itself makes clear that nothing in it supersedes the authority of the six locally run health departments to require masks. 

Haushalter said the health directive mandating the masks would mirror the one that the Metro Nashville Board of Health recently implemented. That mandate says violators can be cited with a Class C misdemeanor, according to the Tennessean.  

However, the text of the directive makes no mention of any penalties for violators. 

Here’s when you don’t have to wear a mask

According to the text of the health directive, masks are required except in the following circumstances:

• Eating at a restaurant or bar;
• in a place of worship;
• within someone’s own motor vehicle;
• when exercising, unless it is impossible to maintain six feet of social distance;
• when wearing a mask would be deemed a “security risk,” which includes operating heavy machinery, work that requires heavy exertion or where communication is essential or someone needs to be able to easily identify their employees;
• within any educational institution;
• within one’s residence;
• when someone can’t medically tolerate a face-covering;
• and when in a building owned by the state of Tennessee or U.S. government. 

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at [email protected]. 

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