The Sedgwick County Commission approved Health Officer Dr. Garold Minns' emergency public health order that will close bars and nightclubs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The order prohibits mass gatherings of more than 15 people. County officials say this is not a hard cap of 15, as each group would need to maintain a “bubble” of 6 feet in all directions between their group and other group(s). Individuals not commonly known to one another must adhere to social distancing guidelines, maintaining 6 feet of separation.
While the order still goes into effect Friday at 12:01 a.m., commissioners have amended the expiration date from Wednesday, September 9th at 11:59 p.m. to Friday, August 21 at 11:59 p.m. The commission will re-evaluate the COVID-19 case numbers on a weekly basis. Their hope is that the four-week emergency order will help get the numbers trending down.
Commissioner Lacey Cruse argued that the county reopened too quickly back in May.
"If we would have followed the Governor's recommendations, if we would have followed the medical community's recommendations like I advocated for, repeatedly, we wouldn't be in this situation but here we are," she said.
The commission also approved eliminating a part of the order that mandated that restaurants who sell alcohol to close at midnight.
The board also voted to exempt municipal swimming pools from closing and changed the required mask wearing age from 5 to 11.
One of the people opposed to Dr. Minns' order is former Kansas House Representative John Whitmer.
"Look, I know these are hard decisions, trust me, I've been an elected official. I know what it's like, I've had to take a hard vote. But that's what we elected you to do. If you can't or won't do it, let us know, we'll find someone who will," he said.
The John Whitmer Show can be heard on KNSS, Sunday nights at 7 p.m.