ST. LOUIS COUNTY (KMOX) - St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page believes politics are driving a Missouri judge who made a ruling last week that would strip local health organizations of its power.
Page blasted Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green and went after Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in his Monday morning press conference. He says the the county's public health order still stands, which requires vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals 5-years-old and up to wear face masks in public indoor spaces and on public transit.
Last week, Green ruled that orders such as quarantines and business closures violate the Missouri Constitution’s separation of powers clause affecting the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. Schmitt stated he was aware of the ruling and is "prepared to enforce compliance" across the state.
Page continued to take a strong stance against Schmitt.
“The latest challenge came last week when an elected Republican judge. A politician that must run for reelection in a rural Trump-loving county entered a ruling about masks in a friendly-fire lawsuit between radical anti-maskers and the attorney general," Page said. "Even though St. Louis County was never a party in the case, or even asked to provide its position, the judge declared all of our public health orders invalid. How a judge can do that will be for the lawyers and the bar to figure out. But we know it is a dangerous ruling. We know it undermines our strong COVID policies and we are starting to understand how it may impact our other health policies."
He then accused Schmitt of possibly flipping his stance on masks.
“For over a year, but notably before he was running for United States Senate, the Attorney General was just fine with our mask mandate. In fact, he hardly said a word about it. He was so silent about mandates that one may say he supported masks," Page said. "That is before he was against them. The COVID deniers are proud that they have set up legal obstacles to make it hard to implement strong COVID policies."
You can watch the press conference, here:
Page says the mask mandate in St. Louis County will will in effect until after Jan. 1, 2022. He says the county's lawyers are still reviewing the impact of Green's recent ruling.
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