KCMO extends mask mandate to at least mid-August

A woman wears a face mask while shopping
Photo credit Andrej Filipovic / Getty

Kansas City, MO - Mayor Quinton Lucas announced Friday that the mask mandate in effect now will extend to at least August 15th. 

Lucas said the new order extends the mask mandate for at least the duration of the city’s COVID-19 state of emergency, which is currently set to expire on Aug. 15."At present, our state of emergency relating to COVID-19 runs until Aug. 15," Lucas said. "If that order expires on Aug. 15, of course that will be the end of our mask order. If it does not, then the mask order will stay for some amount of time."

The first order issued by Lucas on June 27 was scheduled to expire on Sunday. Under the order, all employees or visitors to any place of public accommodation must wear face coverings in an area or while performing an activity which will necessarily involve close contact or proximity to co-workers or the public where 6 feet of separation is not feasible.

Exceptions to the face covering requirement are as follows: 

  • People who are seated in a restaurant or tavern and are actively engaged in consuming food or drink while adequately distanced from other patrons.
  • Minors, with strong guidance from the CDC and the Kansas City Health Department that children over age 2 wear face coverings.
  • People who have disabilities that: 
    • Prevent them from comfortably wearing or taking off face coverings. 
    • Prevent them from communicating while wearing face coverings. 
    • People who have respiratory conditions or breathing trouble. 
    • People who have been told by a medical, legal, or behavioral health professional not to wear face coverings.

Much of the Kansas City Metro – including Jackson County in Missouri and Wyandotte County and Johnson County in Kansas – have mask mandates in effect.

The state of Kansas also has a mask requirement in place, however, local counties have the ability to determine if they follow Gov. Laura Kelly’s order.