On Tuesday, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to reinstate a countywide mask mandate made toothless by state law. The mandate requires all county residents and visitors to mask up indoors when six feet of physical distance cannot be maintained.
Supervisor Steve Christy was joined by Supervisor Rex Scott in opposing the measure.
Acting County Administrator Jan Lesher told the Board that state law and other legal issues make it illegal for the County to enforce the mandate. However, she claimed that the resolution was worth pursuing because it would serve as a “call to arms” for the community to “rally together and do what’s necessary to protect themselves and others.”
“Although I firmly believe that each of us should be wearing masks when we are in group settings, I am certain that a sizable number of Pima County residents will defy or ignore any mandate we may enact today,” said Scott.
For his part, Christy not only called out his fellow Supervisors for what he and many other residents saw as an illegal virtue signal, he questioned their refusal to resume in-person public meetings unless all Supervisors agreed to wear masks. Despite the fact that each Supervisor would be surrounded by sheets of plexiglass when in-person meetings resume, Supervisors Adelita Grijalva and Matt Heinz both insisted that all Supervisors must wear masks to “set a good example” for the public.
“There are absolutely no health risks if Board members sit on the dais without masks. I will even go along with protocols for the audience and other “safeguards” the PCHD is recommending as long as I don’t have to sit on the dais with a face mask on,” Christy told the Arizona Daily Independent. “I think my colleagues are afraid of facing our constituents during call to the audience in person. Additionally, they would love to have a grandstanding, virtue-signaling show with all Supervisors wearing masks. I will not be part of that.”