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State Restrictions On Local Heath Orders Won't Immediately Affect St. Joseph County

(Lauren Chapman/IPB News)

The Indiana legislature’s new law restricting local health officials’ emergency powers won’t immediately affect St. Joseph County, but Deputy County Health Officer Dr. Mark Fox said it will have consequences in future public health emergencies.

 

The law requires local health officials to get approval from elected officials if they want to enact emergency rules that are stricter than the state’s. State legislators overrode Gov. Eric Holcomb's veto on the bill on Monday.

 

Deputy County Health Officer Dr. Mark Fox said the law has rendered neighboring counties’ mask mandates and capacity limits “null and void.” 

 

However, he said St. Joseph County’s public health order is built into a county ordinance that allows businesses to be fined for mask violations. Since that ordinance was passed by the county council, he said the local mask order can legally stay in place.

 

Even though it won’t immediately affect the county, Fox said the new law is an “unfortunate overreaction” to local health officials' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and will prevent them from acting quickly in future emergencies.

 

“It really hampers the ability to make swift decisions focused solely on public health, and threatens to pit politics against public health,” he said.

 

Fox said the effort to pass the new law was "misguided," taking legislative attention away from issues in public health funding and infrastructure.

 

"Our legislators haven't done anything to tackle the really critical, fundamental challenges related to public health...that are needed to improve the health of all Hoosiers," he said. "They really squandered an opportunity to impact public health in a positive and beneficial way."

 

St. Joseph County’s mask order is set to expire on May 27.

 

Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.

 

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Gemma DiCarlo came to Indiana by way of Athens, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and certificates in New Media and Sustainability. She has radio experience from her time as associate producer of Athens News Matters, the flagship public affairs program at WUGA-FM.
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