Sapulpa may join the list of area cities that are activating a mask mandate. The item is set to be voted on in Monday’s City Council meeting.
Item 10-I in Monday night’s agenda includes “discussion and possible action regarding the adoption of a Fifth Proclamation of the City of Sapulpa, Oklahoma, Declaring Continued State of Emergency and Requiring Face Coverings as a result of the COVID:19 pandemic.” Included in the background information is the following report:
According to an October 27, 2020 COVID-19 hospitalization report from the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the Tulsa metropolitan area’s estimated ventilator utilization was the highest in the nation, and the area ranked among the top ten for estimated staffed intensive care unit bed utilization and ventilator utilization.
On November 10, 2020, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued updated recommendations regarding face coverings in public settings, particularly when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, and when around people who do not live in the same household.
Given the current status of COVD-19 infection and hospitalization rates in and around the City of Sapulpa, the City Council should consider whether to require face coverings as a targeted response to combat this present threat to the public health.
Earlier this week, Jenks voted to begin a mask mandate after Tulsa’s Mayor GT Bynum implored surrounding communities to mandate face coverings as Tulsa ICU beds began to fill up with patients who lived outside of Tulsa.
In a recent story with News On 6, Sapulpa Mayor Craig Henderson said he was hopeful that the city council would pass a mandate, and that citizens would abide by it out of respect for their fellow man.
“We’re not looking to be the mask police,” he said. “We’re just asking people to be responsible and kind of take the lead of other businesses that are already doing it.”
Sapulpa City Council voted on a mask mandate in July, but it did not pass.
