After Republican Governor Eric Holcomb of Indiana signed an already watered-down executive order on Friday mandating mask-wearing across...
After Republican Governor Eric Holcomb of Indiana signed an already watered-down executive order on Friday mandating mask-wearing across the state — even outdoors in some cases, local police confirmed that they have no plan to enforce such an order.
In fact, law enforcement is even directing citizens who want to report fellow Hoosiers for violating the mask mandate to refrain from calling 911, but to reach out to their health department, the IndyStar reported Sunday.
“We really don’t have an active plan, I guess you could say, to actually enforce it,” said public information officer for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department William Young.
The executive order mandates the wearing of masks until at least August 8 for all residents eight years of age and older while in indoor public spaces and even outdoors when then recommended six-feet of “social distancing” cannot be followed. Moreover, anyone in a school will be obligated to wear a mask, including students past the third grade.
Holcomb’s order went through some reform from the time he announced it to the time he signed it, largely due to pushback from fellow members of the Republican Party, according to the IndyStar.
“Gov. Eric Holcomb signed an executive order to make face masks mandatory across the state. But one detail changed from when he first announced the plan: Violations did not trigger criminal penalties,” the report outlined. “When Holcomb first announced the mask requirement on Wednesday, he said violations would be a Class B misdemeanor, but after pressure from members of his own party, the executive order Holcomb signed Friday leaves it to health departments to enforce the order through education instead.”
“With no criminal penalties, violators won’t face fines or jail time, and local police departments say they won’t be enforcing the order when it goes into effect Monday,” explained the IndyStar.
Instead of law enforcement dealing with the mask violations, local health departments will through “education about the importance of wearing face coverings and dispelling myths and misconceptions about the use and/or the benefits of the requirement,” the executive order outlines.
“If you see a person or a group of people not abiding by the statewide mask mandate, don’t call 911, police say,” the report noted. “Instead, police are asking people to call their local health department in alignment with the executive order.”
Messaging on face masks from public health officials have been rather inconsistent. For example, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading voice on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, told “60 Minutes” back in a March interview that face masks were not necessary for the general population amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, noting that while masks might make people “feel a little bit better,” they don’t provide the protection folks believe they do and might create “unintended consequences.”
Since the interview, however, Dr. Fauci has changed his tune on mask directives, encouraging folks to wear them when they cannot social distance. And by early April, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidance recommending face coverings.
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