The City of Durham has been requiring residents to wear face coverings when out in public in an effort to fight COVID-19 since April. But it’s not likely the same legislation will be passed for the towns of Orange County for now.

While all levels of government within Orange County have routinely recommended residents to wear face coverings while outdoors, no additions to the towns’ or county’s states of emergency have been made.

Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle said a conversation with the Durham mayor helped her understand why the city made masks mandatory.

“Upon speaking with Mayor [Steve] Schewel,” she said to 97.9 The Hill, “I know one reason it was required was people just weren’t [wearing them.] And so to require it, he said it has encouraged more people to feel safe doing it.”

Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger said her town and its residents have done well with taking the town’s recommendations of staying six feet apart. But when speaking with other mayors around the state and country, not every region is taking the messages in stride.

“Some are having much different experiences,” said Hemminger. “There are groups of people who are just completely frustrated, who say it’s against their first amendment rights to be told to wear a mask or to stay at home.”

Lavelle said Carrboro’s Town Council held a discussion of requiring face masks before ultimately settling on a resolution that strongly recommends them. She said the conversation between council members brought up many perspectives of why it’s best for some people to not cover up.

“Some people have breathing issues, asthma issues, some people need to see facial expressions to understand communication” said Lavelle. “There are some personal-type reasons why requiring them [creates challenges.]”

Lavelle also said there are additional problems that arise in terms of uniform enforcement of a mandatory face covering policy.

“If someone doesn’t have it on,” she asked, “what does that mean? Can they be turned away from a restaurant or do restaurants have to provide them [masks]? What about employees and people working in businesses [where they] aren’t required? It gets a little complicated.”

When it comes to the science behind ultimately mitigating the spread of COVID-19, though, the Carrboro mayor says all Orange County leaders are on the same page.

“One thing we can all agree on is they should be worn,” Lavelle said about face coverings. “[The Town of Carrboro] started a social media campaign [that is] really trying to put out that message of wearing a face covering whenever you’re indoors and unable to maintain that six-foot social distance.

Hemminger said Chapel Hill is also continuing to put the message out and steps are being taken to help community members who may not have the means to buy or make their own coverings.

“We have a mask team,” she described, “made up of town staff, community partners and volunteers. We’ve got a great sewing brigade that’s put some together and now we’re going to be distributing them to people who might not have access to good masks.”

You can learn more about the Orange County Health Department’s public health recommendations for residents on the county government’s website.

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