The topic of whether or not to require people to wear masks to prevent further spread of COVID-19 continues to be debated in Greene County.

The topic came up again at the most recent Greene County School Board meeting last month. The Board ultimately decided to freeze the school district’s mask matrix at the yellow level, meaning masks should be worn when social distancing can’t happen. Greene County Public Health Director Becky Wolf continues to advocate for a mask mandate.

“So ideally, our goal would be to have everybody wear a mask, including in schools. But I’m hopeful that going into a yellow situation, I’m hopeful that that will be just as effective, as long as everybody encourages it. We hopefully don’t see continued quarantine of students and staff.”

Wolf points out that the new recommendation from the governor’s office that if all individuals are wearing masks and one person tests positive for COVID-19, only that person has to go into quarantine applies to all settings, not just schools. Wolf offers this advice for businesses or governmental entities thinking of requiring masks and how to enforce it. 

“Take it along the lines of, what kinds of requirements are needed that are just expectations of being an employee. You can’t come into stores barefoot. It just needs to be thought of that way, that it’s just the expectation, this is what we need to do. A lot of it is just in how the message is delivered.”    

Wolf reminds everyone that choosing to wear a mask is for the greater good and protecting others, especially those at higher health risk, from contracting COVID-19.