Koch, the lone Republican on the commissioners court, questioned continuing Jenkins鈥� mask mandate for county buildings and public schools at Tuesday鈥檚 commissioners court meeting. It was issued .
鈥淚 think the public needs a greater deal of transparency in when this thing ends, and how we are going to deal with things in the endemic stage,鈥� Koch said.
Jenkins repeated his decision to follow the judgement of local hospital leaders who sit on an advisory committee.
鈥淚t falls on me as the emergency management director to make certain decisions,鈥� he said to Koch. 鈥淚 choose not to use politics and sticking my thumb in the air to see which way the wind is blowing to make those decisions. You disagree with it, which is your right.鈥�
There are no penalties for not following the county鈥檚 mask mandate.
The back-and-forth came as COVID-19 metrics are showing a decline in omicron cases and deaths. The is down over 700 cases from the previous week, and the death rate has dropped sharply since early January.
But Dr. Philip Huang, the county鈥檚 health director, said while there is a downward trend, case numbers are still serious enough to keep the county鈥檚 transmission level at the high risk 鈥渞ed鈥� level for now.
鈥淲e will be reconvening later this week and definitely reviewing the possibility of going to orange,鈥� Huang said.
During Huang鈥檚 presentation, Koch noted that states like New York and Rhode Island have lifted indoor mask mandates despite . New York鈥檚 mask mandate is and Rhode Island鈥檚 school mask mandate .
"When do we lose our credibility?鈥� he asked Huang. Koch later referenced a to question the effectiveness of masks, while acknowledging criticisms of the study.
Huang noted the director of the CDC masking inside in public places, despite the optimism over falling cases.
鈥淗istorically, what we鈥檝e seen is when the numbers start to go down, everyone just relaxes and things just go back to normal, and then something happens and the numbers start going back up,鈥� Huang said.
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