Elko, NV (AP) — Lawmakers in a rural northeast Nevada county have voted not to comply with a mask mandate that the governor reimposed to stem the spread of an aggressive coronavirus variant.
A crowded audience applauded the Elko County Commission vote on Wednesday to resist face coverings. The move applies to unincorporated areas and not to the cities of Elko, Carlin, Wells and West Wendover.
Businesses and the “emotional and physical well-being” of residents depend on refusing to wear masks, Commissioner Rex Steninger said as he sponsored the measure to direct county offices and agents to refuse to enforce the mandate.
The commission also directed staff to prepare an ordinance for a public hearing that would ban door-to-door efforts to encourage vaccinations.
Commission Chairman Jon Karr told the audience that commissioners weren’t for or against vaccines but opposed the door-to-door efforts.
Elko County has about 55,000 residents and votes solidly Republican. About 76% of the nearly 22,000 ballots cast in the county in the 2020 election went for former President Donald Trump.
Steninger accused Democrats of “pretending the pandemic is worsening ... to reinstate mask mandates and businesses closing” and noted the commission voted in June to join an anti-federal government group that believes sheriffs have the final say on the constitutionality of a law.
But he said people who want to wear masks should feel comfortable doing so.
Governor Steve Sisolak recently reimposed a mask mandate for everyone, vaccinated or not, in indoor public places.
He followed recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aimed at stemming a surge in infections and hospitalizations blamed on the delta variant of the virus that have not been seen since before the arrival of vaccines.
Sisolak’s chief of staff, Michelle White, called the Elko County commissioners’ move “unfortunate” but said Friday that the state is still encouraging everyone in that community to get vaccinated and wear a mask.
Sisolak had lifted mask rules statewide in mid-May, following CDC guidelines at the time that vaccinated people didn’t need to wear face coverings.
The delta variant has gripped Nevada since then.
Sixty people in Elko County have died since COVID-19 first emerged in Nevada in March 2020. The state surpassed 6,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Friday.