JACKSON, Wyo. — The Teton County Board of County Commissioners met this morning to discuss extending Teton District Health Order #21-5, requiring individuals to wear face masks in certain places, with exemptions.
The Board voted 3-2 approving the order. Commissioners Mark Barron and Greg Epstein opposed the order.
The Jackson Town Council approved the same health order on Aug. 30, extending the 10 mask order issued by Teton County Health Officer Dr. Travis Riddell.
Dr. Paul Beaupre and Teton County Health Director Jodie Pond were present during the virtual meeting to answer questions.
“This discussion began with talking to the school district about masking in schools when they opened this week. they are not a bubble. It made no sense to put the burden 100% on school kids to wear masks if we are not asking the community to do the same so we can get these numbers down,” said Pond.
Barron opposed the mask order saying, “I believe in masks, I wear masks. I trust the public to make the right decision.”
Epstein asked about the health and psychological effects of wearing a mask. The mandate does not require individuals to have a doctor’s note or prove the medical condition that keeps them from wearing a mask.
“While there might be benefits to the masks in the short term regarding covid, there are long-term implications,” Epstein said.
“I will tell you that I have looked carefully and I have others in the hospital who are looking carefully at the world literature and there have not been really any excellent studies on the long-term psychological effects of masking,” Beaupre said.
Beaupre went on to explain that at the hospital, staff members have been wearing masks since the onset of the pandemic. He spoke about frequent queries conducted at the hospital.
“The vast majority of staff are thankful that we have the appropriate PPE and that they are in protective gear when caring for covid patients at the hospital,” Beaupre said.
“We do understand that it causes confusion,” said Pond, addressing the recent changes to the COVID-19 metrics to align with the CDC guidelines.
“We just do the best we can, this has been a really hard response and a really long response and the science does change. Delta has changed things and I think that was big factor for us, with delta being a lot more infectious and really trying to line up what the CDC and the state is saying about our risk level as opposed to how much PPE we have in our basement,” Pond said
The order is effective through the end of 2021 with a condition that in the event that the CDC lists Teton County as an area of “low” or “moderate” transmission, the requirement in the order should be temporarily suspended.
“I hear our health professionals asking to deploy a tool that is not a single cure all but is part of the tools in the tool box that are a multi layer approach and I support giving them that tool and giving the community that tool and I hope we see our numbers go down and the masks come off,” Chairwoman Natalia Macker said.
Two community members spoke during public comment, sharing anecdotal stories of why they believe masks do not work.
A total of 4,460 cases in Teton County since the onset of the virus.
