Huntsville/Madison County's COVID-19 numbers are rising rapidly. The State of Alabama has had record numbers of new cases: AL.com reported 888 new cases on Saturday, June 27th.​ The Alabama Public Health COVID-19 Dashboard shows daily new cases rising in Madison County by a factor of two in less than two weeks . Bamatacker.com indicates total confirmed cases doubling in Madison County in less than three weeks. Our local hospitals have a record number of COVID-19 patients with Alabama hospital ICU beds at 82% capacity. We need to act now to prevent more spread of coronavirus infections.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people wear cloth face coverings in public settings in addition to maintaining social distances of more than 6 feet. It has been proven that masks work to slow/halt the transmission of COVID-19 [Ref: 1, 2, 3]; if an asymptomatic individual is wearing a mask, the likelihood of unknowingly infecting others will be reduced by the mask’s ability to decrease respiratory droplet transmission, and recent evidence suggests masks may also offer protection to the wearer.

What We Want

We are asking Mayor Tommy Battle to implement a mask-required ordinance for any public buildings and public areas in the City of Huntsville. We are also asking the Madison County Commission and MC Chairman Dale Strong to implement a similar rule for Madison County. We believe the strength of an ordinance is required for four reasons:

1. Studies show that mask efficacy improves disproportionately with respect to percent usage, increasing dramatically with widespread use [Ref: 1, 2, 3].
2. Early, proactive implementation is also most effective in reducing the spread of infections [Ref: 3]. Because Madison County has only recently seen dramatic increases in COVID-19, it is in a unique position to affect its future outcome. This is in stark contrast to other metropolitan areas in Alabama such as Jefferson, Montgomery, and Mobile counties where exponential growth rates have already been sustained.
3. Economic health goes hand-in-hand with public health. In order to most effectively ensure the health of local businesses, we must do all we can to demonstrate responsible behavior, mitigate asymptomatic transmission, and not overburden our healthcare system during this pandemic.
4. The status quo is not sustainable. Madison County doubling rates project confirmed case counts well over 3,000 by early-August and approaching 10,000 by Labor Day if behavior is unchanged.

We also understand such a measure would be temporary and that there may be legitimate reasons for a subset of individuals to be exempt from such a rule. Such reasons should be well-founded and might include medical and/or mental health conditions that would preclude safely wearing a mask, age exemptions for the very young, etc.

Please follow the lead of other cities and states around the country who have implemented public masking rules, including: Montgomery AL, Washington State, Kansas City, MO, California State, Leon County Florida, Memphis TN. Please act now to protect Huntsville, AL and Madison County Citizens.

The CDC and WHO have recommended mask usage as well as social distancing for the protection of the public from COVID-19. We are requesting that Mayor Battle and Chairman Strong heed their advice and follow their guidelines by implementing a mask-required ordinance for the city of Huntsville and the County of Madison.

References:

1. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6498/1422?fbclid=IwAR1eiUQevEMHr5mXDUX5APeG_LoluZY34m4WIIL6wFOcZWcNfu5FB7hDbEE
2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340603522_Face_Masks_Against_COVID-19_An_Evidence_Review
3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468042720300117?via%3Dihub&fbclid=IwAR1fIxF6yA8HtbzkUZ1_PPzsNcnzwdFmtQbjiO_YVdFzXwmD2PE0-Uv0GG8