Despite Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision to roll back some of the heightened safety precautions to slow the spread of COVID-19 this week, the mask regulation passed by the Webster County Board of Health in December will remain in effect until at least March 15.

The board held a special meeting on Thursday afternoon to discuss the future of the mask mandate regulation.

“We are still in the middle of the pandemic and masking is one effective strategy that definitely helps until we get herd immunity and get to a point where we can safely de-escalate slowly,” board chair Dr. Vinil Bhuma said..

The regulation was passed by the Board of Health and approved by the County Board of Supervisors in December, when the county’s 14-day positivity rate was just over 20%. As of Thursday, the county’s positivity rate is at 5.1%.

Bhuma said that the drop in positivity rate is an indicator that the county has been effective in curbing the disease’s spread through masking and social distancing.

County Supervisor Mark Campbell, who is a member of the Board of Health, said that with that information, he feels that the board needs to put an end date on the regulation “so we don’t just have this extended out there forever.”

He made a motion to continue the mask mandate regulation through March 15, adding that if numbers rise again, the regulation can be re-implemented at that time. Board member Luke Becker seconded the motion and the motion passed.

However, more discussion started after the motion passed, including comments from the public.

Megan Secor, a local business owner, shared her concerns about the board “rushing” to end the regulation on March 15.

“It’s only a month from now,” she said. “And we know the vaccine roll-out has been slow.”

Secor said that giving the mask mandate resolution an end date of a month from now sends a mixed message to the community, compounded by Reynolds’ suspension of statewide mask mandates.

“A lot of people don’t know they should still be wearing masks,” she said. “They think it’s safe to not wear masks now.”

Bhuma shared that, as a physician, he was also concerned about new, more aggressive strains of the COVID-19 coronavirus that have been found in Iowa in recent weeks.

Neven Conrad, who is also a Fort Dodge City Council member, suggested setting a positivity rate level to use as a “trigger” for the mandate so if the numbers reach a low enough point, the mandate would no longer be in effect. But if the numbers rise over a certain point, the mask mandate would go back into effect.

After about 20 more minutes of discussion, the board decided on a solution.

Through a “friendly amendment” to Campbell’s motion, the effect of the motion changed from the regulation expiring on March 15 to the board having the option to suspend the regulation on March 15 if it chooses to do so at that time.