Cape County health board takes no action on trustee's mask motion

A motion by a member of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center Board of Trustees to disavow government face mask recommendations died when it failed to receive a second during a virtual meeting of the board Tuesday afternoon.

Board member Eric Becking said he is concerned schools, businesses and other groups are listening to the health department's recommendations about mask usage and COVID-19 vaccinations and are, in turn, using them as "mandates" to require various health precautions.

"I've been getting a lot of feedback from the public and wonder if there is a way for us, as a board, to update our position and release entities to have the ability to make their own call on what they want to do," Becking said. "Specifically, the Cape public schools are referencing us a lot saying they're going to do what we recommend."

He said recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been inconsistent and have caused public confusion.

"People look to us to see what it is we're saying and I feel there are so many different opinions," Becking told the other trustees during the 90-minute online meeting. Just over half the meeting was devoted to COVID-related topics and whether the board should go on record as not recommending any public health precautions.

Specifically, he said he is concerned public schools in Cape Girardeau have extended the district's mask and quarantine requirements while the Jackson School District does not have similar rules.

"Jackson schools are taking a complete different position than the Cape schools and we're (only) eight miles apart," he said. "I think it would behoove us to make a statement or some sort of declaration to say, 'We want to trust you to make the best decision for your school," he said. "There's got to be some way to say, 'It's not us'."

Becking went on to say, "Our statement (should be) you can do whatever the heck you want."

MSHSAA and DESE guidelines

Others on the board disagreed. "The issue with the schools is not us, it's MSHSAA," said board member Diane Howard in reference to the Missouri State High School Activities Association. "MSHSAA has guidelines they're imposing on the districts. We have no leverage whatsoever (but) MSHSAA has tons of leverage."

Howard, an attorney who serves as legal counsel for a number of school districts including the Cape Girardeau School District, said the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) also has health and safety requirements based on local COVID case levels, which schools are expected to follow.

She said MSHSAA has been critical of some schools not following DESE's guidance and member schools that do not follow those guidelines could be found in violation and could be disqualified from participation in various school activities. DESE, she said, takes into consideration CDC masking guidelines when issuing guidance to school districts.

"But as you all know they (CDC guidelines) change about every seven days," Becking said. "How could we just say to Neil Glass, the superintendent (of the Cape Girardeau School District), 'Hey, listen, there are recommendations everywhere and you've got to use your best resources to make the best decision for your school' because, like I said, Jackson schools are doing something completely different."

He told the other board members the mask issue "is affecting people's lives every day. They're having to mask up. I'm not masking up when I'm going to a lot of places and I can't imagine every day knowing that you're masking up and (following) all these different rules when there are places just five miles away that aren't."

"That's something for the boards of education in Cape and Jackson to reconcile," Howard replied.

'An issue of life and death'

Board member Phillip Taylor, whose motion to recommend mask usage and vaccinations was approved by the board in August, spoke out again in favor of following CDC recommendations.

"This is not a trivial issue," Taylor said. "This is an issue of life and death. We need to be following the very best scientific data available."

Taylor acknowledged the CDC has modified its recommendations during the pandemic, but said the agency's guidelines have changed as more is learned about the COVID virus. "It's very important for the board to stand up for what is correct scientific information. This is too important to ignore," he said. "If the CDC recommends it, we should be following it. If they change, then we need to change with it."

Health center director Jane Wernsman said she is in regular contact with public and private school representatives throughout the county to discuss safety precautions and to advise them on COVID-related issues.

In a related matter, Wernsman asked the board whether it wanted to support a Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services program giving eligible unvaccinated people gift cards or other monetary rewards in exchange for being vaccinated. The board voted unanimously not to participate in the program because of the staff resources required to do so.

"I would like more people to get them (vaccinations), but I am not in favor of this," said board member Georganne Syler, whose opinion was shared by all other members.

"I see it as more work for the (health) department," Howard added.

'You've been warned'

Tuesday's meeting took place on a Zoom meeting platform and was attended online by several dozen people, many of whom texted comments during the meeting with some calling board members "tyrants" and accusing the CDC of profiting from mask and vaccination requirements.

Board chairman John Freeze told the Southeast Missourian that Tuesday's meeting was held online because many audience members at the board's last two meetings, held at Cape Girardeau's Osage Centre, were unmasked despite the city's requirement face masks be worn inside all municipal buildings.

The board also hoped by conducting the meeting online, audience disruptions such as those occurring at the board's July and August meetings could be avoided. To that end, the board voted 4-0, with Becking not voting, to adopt guidelines for public comments at future "in-person" meetings. The guidelines will, among other things, limit individual comments to three minutes.

"I will tell you right now, if our meetings get interrupted again we're going (back) to Zoom meetings," Freeze said. "I'm not going to tolerate any interruptions of our meetings, so if we have open meetings and public speaking, if they (the audience) interrupt our meetings, we're going to Zoom. So everybody listening to that, you've been warned."

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