Starting this weekend, businesses in Dallas County will have to require employees and customers to wear face masks. Commissioners voted 3-2 to require the masks starting at midnight Saturday morning.
Judge Clay Jenkins called an emergency meeting after Governor Abbott said his executive order did not allow for fines or arrests of individuals who refuse to wear masks, but businesses that do not require masks could be fined.
"Mandatory masking is the only thing that works because if you make it voluntary, it doesn't happen. We know, now, from substantial science that's just increasing every day, literally, masking is the only thing that's going to reduce the epidemic. Distancing and contact tracing are important secondary things," UT Southwestern Dr. Robert Haley said during the meeting.
Haley says the surge in COVID-19 cases in Montgomery, Alabama followed voluntary guidelines there.
"That's where we're seeing the big rise," he says. "Masking is our only hope to snuff this out until we get a vaccine. Those states or cities that have enacted mandatory masking orders, those states have regularly reduced their epidemic and saved lives."
Commissioners JJ Koch and John Wiley Price asked about enforcement of the rules.
"We already have enough problems with these encounters, about these little-thing encounters," Koch said.
Commissioner Elba Garcia proposed an amendment to shift enforcement away from police and the sheriff's department to code compliance.
"There is no way I am going to support law enforcement intervention in any of this," she said. "I know the Latino community is 60 percent of essential workers, and I want them protected.
Her amendment also made the fine civil and reduced the amount from $100 to $50. The amended order passed 3-2, with Koch and Price voting against it.