As of July 3rd, 2020 at 7 a.m. St. Louis City and St. Louis County will require mask-wearing in public places to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. St. Charles Executive Steve Ehlmann released a statement that he has "faith that the citizens of St. Charles County will do the right thing without government coercion" and will "remind our citizens that, along with the freedom to decide, they have a responsibility to protect the health of others by wearing a mask.” Thus, he will not mandate mask-wearing in St. Charles County.

I propose that Executive Steve Ehlmann reconsider his stance on this issue, and mandate mask-wearing in public places in St. Charles County to protect all of our residents. Since the re-opening of Missouri, I have seen many people relax mask-wearing in public spaces, which serves as anecdotal evidence that citizens will not comply with his urging to wear masks without a mandate. 

In addition to protecting the health of residents and mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in our community, wearing masks could help us continue to flatten the curve and help us avoid another shutdown which would have a negative effect on our local economy. Furthermore, mandating this would help local businesses enforce mask-wearing to protect their employees and other customers; without mandating this socially-responsible practice, local businesses are unable to enforce mask-wearing.

Local and national health experts have advocated the use of cloth masks to help decrease the risk of spreading Please sign this petition to urge Executive Steve Ehlmann to join our neighbors St. Louis City and St. Louis County in mandating mask-wearing to protect our community.