Mayor McMurray to expand St. Joseph mask mandate

St.

Joseph Mayor Bill McMurray is expected to sign an emergency order Tuesday to expand St.

Joseph's mask mandate.

<<kilee thomas reportingsot: kent o'dell, city council- "let me apologize to the doctors and nurses cause for five or six weeks now, i've kinda been the one holding out and seeing what would develop.

I never knew it was going to explode like it did.

I never meant for this to happen so fast."

Councilman odell's tune on masks has changed.

Starting thursday..

Masks are no longer encouraged in st.

Joseph but mandated.

Mayor bill mcmurray signing an emergency order that all indoor public places mandate masks.

Sot: bill mcmurray, mayor- "what brought this about was the rapid increase of cases at mosaic.

Just a week ago, we had 16 people in the hospital.

Today, we have 36 people in the hospital.

So, this tremendous bump in the number of hospitalizations is a great concern."

The city's highest rise in hospitalizations since the pandemic began has forced the council's hand.

City council members have been contentious about the issue...until today sot: o'dell- "about four weeks ago, i lost a brother and i've had family members get covid.

This is here in st.

Joe.

I have a sister that got it pretty bad and she is well now , but she's having problem with the lungs and this goes with so many other people that nobody ever thinks about.

" a citywide mask mandate has been a hot button issue outside of the council community as well.mayor mcmurray understands he'll face backlash for the ordinance, but says he's ready for it.

Sot: mcmurray- "well sure.

I mean there are a lot of people in favor and a lot of favor not in favor.

To them i would say, look wear the mask in 30 days and see if we can get the hospitalizations down.

That's all i'm asking."

The st.

Joseph health department has been asking for mask mandate for months now sot: debra bradley, st.

Joseph health department- "i think council was hesitant just to protect our community.

They wanna do what's right for the majority of the group and that's what they were hearing from the community."and now that the city has a mask mandate hoping by the end of the 30 days numberssot: bradley- "if we can protect as many people as we can until we can get this vaccine for people, then that's our hope and our goal."

Lower hospitalizations is also what city leaders are striving for.

Sot: o'dell- "in milwaukee, they went city mandate and the numbers reduced within two weeks by half.

I'll take any reduction i can get."

The emergency ordinance will remain in effect for 30 days 12:01 thursday morning.lasting until october 16threporting in st.

Joseph kilee thomas kq2 news>> health experts