Masks become controversial
TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
The Lincoln County Health Department continues to encourage residents to wear masks and to follow the CDC recommendations, according to a press release issued May 10 by the Department, for anyone ages two (2) and older in an indoor public setting.
Nonetheless, not everyone in Lincoln County or Central Wisconsin agrees with the recommendations.
Tomahawk School students protested all last week, saying masks should be a choice, not a requirement (see article on page 1), causing the school to hold an assembly about the issue, for the purpose of gaining student input that would then be passed along to the District Administrator.
In Wausau, the Wausau School Board voted 6 to 3 that, while they will still require masks for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year, masks will be optional for outside events, including graduations, and for summer school, and that effective at the end of this school year, masks will become optional. The Board also voted to reduce the social distance guideline down to three feet instead of six.
Some businesses and retail stores have been allowing customers to shop without requiring face masks for a while now.
For those that do continue to mask up, many are asking “how much longer?”
According to the Lincoln County Health Department release, unvaccinated individuals should only go maskless during “outdoor activities with members of your household and if you can physically distance six feet apart from non-household members” and/or at “small outdoor gatherings with fully vaccinated people.”
Fully vaccinated individuals, the release states, don’t need to wear a mask at “outdoor activities and small gatherings with both fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people; except for crowded outdoor events, like parades, sporting events and concerts;” “indoors in private settings with other fully vaccinated people;” and/or “indoors in private settings with unvaccinated people (including children) from a single household who are low risk for severe COVID-19.”