By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – One month after the Hill County Health Board voted to approve a mask mandate for Hill County, Chair Mark Peterson has signed the official Health Board order.
The order does not need to be signed by Health Officer Kim Larson since it is a Health Board Order, not a Health Officer order.
Peterson called a Health Board meeting on Monday to discuss the then-unsigned order, saying he wanted clarification on how it would be enforced. The Board did not take any action during the meeting, but seemed to come to an understanding that enforcement would come in the form of education. The Order does state that violators could be issued citations.
The order is in effect for 90 days from when the order was approved on February 18th, or until the per capita case spread in Hill County is below 10 per 100,000 people for two consecutive weeks (about 1.5 cases per day), whichever comes first. This metric was met last week, which means if case rates remain low, the Order could be rescinded in the coming days.
Exceptions to the mandate
The following exceptions apply to the mask mandate:
- Children under the age of five
- Persons consuming food or drinks in an establishment that offers food and drink for sale
- Persons engaged in an activity that makes wearing a face covering impractical or unsafe, such as strenuous physical exercise or swimming
- Persons seeking to communicate with someone who is hearing impaired; or persons giving a speech or engaging in an artistic, cultural, musical, or theatrical performance for an audience, provided the audience is separated by at least six feet of distance
- Persons temporarily removing their face covering for identification purposes
- Persons required to remove face coverings for the purpose of receiving medical evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment
- Persons who have a medical condition precluding the safe wearing of a face covering
