Douglas and Adams Counties Mask Order Opt-Outs Slapped Down

The members of the Tri-County Health Department Board of Health have clearly had enough. At a meeting last night, August 30, the board voted against allowing Douglas and Adams counties to simply ignore a new order requiring children to wear masks at schools indoors.

The edict, which also applies to Arapahoe County, the third jurisdiction that Tri-County Health serves (Arapahoe County officials had planned to consider opting out during an August 31 meeting), calls for facial coverings to be worn by all individuals two or older "in all school and child care settings." It goes into effect on September 1 and will remain in place until December 31 unless it's amended, extended or rescinded.

Douglas County commissioners Abe Laydon, George Teal and Lora Thomas, who announced their intention to end the relationship with Tri-County Health last year, had wasted no time in rebelling against TCHD's previous mask order. On August 19, they declared that they would opt out, and four days later released a statement that asserted: "In Douglas County, individual school districts, schools and childcare facilities are not required to comply with the requirements of this order. While TCHD has an inspection role relative to childcare centers/facilities to ensure minimum health regulations are met, these facilities are licensed by the State of Colorado."

The next day, August 24, the commissioners doubled down, passing a resolution requesting that the board of education for Douglas County School District RE-1 "exercise discretion and decline to adopt Tri-County Health Department's public health order requiring face covering for schools and child care settings."

The district didn't go along. "Douglas County School District has layered COVID mitigation protocols and follows Tri-County Health Department and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment guidelines in regard to masks and outbreaks," district spokesperson Paula Hans tells Westword.

Last week, a group of parents protested the DCSD decision, echoing demonstrations in Jefferson County — which was once a part of the Tri-County system but set up its own health department decades ago. But while officials at Jefferson County Public Health didn't rescind their mask order in response to this criticism, they did tweak it this past weekend. The previous order required face coverings for everyone two and older, but that's been moved up to age three — and the latest Jeffco regulations also allow more flexibility for social distancing in lunchroom settings.

In a statement, JCPH executive director Dawn Comstock explained that during "a town hall with more than sixty childcare owners and operators in the county," the most common complaints pertained to "masking among two year olds, as well as the inability to maintain six-feet distance when children are unmasked during meal times due to a lack of space in many smaller facilities." As a result, Jeffco's order now lets kids younger than three skip face coverings and recommends at least three feet of distancing for unmasked kids during mealtime.

Meanwhile, Tri-County Health's board ran out of patience with calls in Douglas and Adams counties to go entirely mask-free in schools. A release issued after last night's meeting points out that "there have been 44 confirmed and suspected outbreaks since the beginning of August in schools in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties. Most new cases are among those who are not or cannot be vaccinated, including children younger than twelve."

A statement from TCHD executive director John Douglas underscores the concerns such outbreaks spark. "The most important thing we can do for children’s mental health and well-being is to assure in-person learning and limit interruptions to this in-person learning by keeping children and the classrooms safe," he says. "We have reached a point where transmission has increased significantly and is putting our communities at risk. We must now take the statutory responsibility and authority given to us by the Colorado legislature to reduce the spread of communicable diseases and keep our communities safe. The new mask order will help to protect those who cannot get vaccinated and allow children to continue in-person learning."

This post has been updated to clarify the policies of Adams and Arapahoe counties.