As officials weigh mask mandates, Bozeman residents take up issue to encourage use - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Bozeman resident Claire Baker met up with her two teenage daughters and a friend in the Second Wind Sports parking lot Thursday afternoon to make a game plan.
Baker had with her freshly printed posters with messages urging Bozemanites to wear face coverings. They read:
“Please protect Bozeman. Wear a mask.”
“We are in this together. Thanks for wearing a mask.”
“Mask up … we’re trying to keep Montana in last place.”
There were six different posters and 50 copies of each. Baker handed some to girls and talked with them about where they could be placed. Then they headed downtown to hang them up and offer them to businesses receptive to the messages.
Baker said the goal is not to be political, but to “to change the expectation around town.” She said wearing masks will protect employees and encourage tourists from out-of-state to also put on face coverings.
Baker said others in town talked of a letter-writing campaign to advocate for a local mask mandate, but she thought that would take too long.
“So I thought, ‘What difference does it make if we just put up mask posters ourselves?’” she said.
Baker reached out to local nonprofit Hopa Mountain, a group that invests in rural and tribal communities, and it became a partner in the project. Hopa Mountain paid for a graphic designer to make the posters and for printing costs.
Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, the group’s executive director, said the poster campaign aligned with Hopa Mountain’s goals as it aids in the response to the pandemic.
“Wearing a mask is a simple act we can all do now to care for one another,” she said.
Baker also posted the poster designs online and on Facebook so that anyone can print them out. She’s already heard from people out of town who are interested in spreading the message.
Baker and the girls met at Second Wind Sports because owner Brad Baumann had requested some posters to go on the door of his shop. Baumann said he wants to encourage customers to wear a mask because it’s the right thing to do and it protects his staff.
“It’s a solidarity thing. We’re all in this together,” Baumann said.
Masks have become a polarizing topic all over the country. Debates have intensified over whether officials should require face masks in public. Some are moving forward with mandates. Others have pushed back against the idea, like State Sen. Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville, who said in June that “mask wearing is a hoax to push government compliance.”
Local officials in Big Horn County are requiring residents to wear masks outside of their homes. Missoula city and county officials requested their local health officer mandate mask wearing. Just on Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made face coverings mandatory in counties statewide where 20 cases of COVID-19 or more have been confirmed.
In a press conference Wednesday, Matt Kelley, Gallatin County health officer, said a mandate isn’t off the table, but that it would come from the Gallatin City-County Board of Health if it does. Kelley said he hopes people understand that wearing a mask is about protecting other people as much as the individual wearing one.
“It’s a matter of courtesy, it’s a matter of consideration for the people around you,” Kelley said.
Bozeman Mayor Chris Mehl said the city commission will talk about masks at its Monday night meeting. Mehl said it isn’t likely that the commission would enact its own mandate, as that’s the role of the board of health, but that commissioners will talk about the message they want to send.
“I suspect that you’ll see a lively discussion among commissioners on Monday, and I’m looking forward to it,” Mehl said.
Mehl said it’s important for Bozemanites to “mask up” as COVID-19 cases are rising.
Gov. Steve Bullock said in a press conference Thursday that he supports local governments making masks mandatory and urged Montanans to wear them, but said he hopes to avoid a statewide order.
“The most effective way for all of us to wear masks is not from a mandate but for it to be socially accepted. For businesses to say we’re doing this not just to keep open, not just because we might have to roll back to a phase one, but we’re doing this to keep our employees and our customers and our communities safe,” Bullock said.
During the same press conference, Todd O’Hair with Montana Chamber of Commerce promoted wearing masks to slow the spread of the virus, saying, “businesses won’t survive without healthy economic activity, which is founded on a healthy population.”
Another Bozeman resident, Pamela Refling, is also spearheading a public awareness campaign about masks, and said she agrees with the assertion that public buy-in is most important.
Refling said she felt compelled to act after doing some research. She read in The Atlantic that research shows if 80% of people wear masks that are 60% effective, transmission rates will drop. Later, she heard Dr. Atul Gawande on NPR say that even if between 60% and 75% of people wear masks, transmission will slow.
“I just felt like I couldn’t ignore it. I had to do something,” Refling said.
Refling ordered 5,000 vinyl stickers that read “80%.” They’re to be worn on face masks, promoting the idea that if 80% of Bozemanites wear masks, transmission rates will decrease.
“I thought, let’s go for 80% and if we get 65%, we’re in the right area,” Refling said.
Refling said she’s distributed a couple hundred stickers so far, and is offering to send them to people who email bozeman80percentmaskers@gmail.com. She put out an open call for a meeting over Zoom next week to plan how to distribute the rest and further the cause.
Refling, who worked in Bozeman as a mediator, said she understands there’s opposition to mask mandates, and that there’s been some confusion about their effectiveness, so some people don’t wear them at all.
“I don’t hold it against anybody who makes that choice. But I welcome anybody who changes their mind,” she said.
Chronicle reporter Perrin Stein contributed reporting to this story.
2020-07-03 06:00:00Z
https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/coronavirus/as-officials-weigh-mask-mandates-bozeman-residents-take-up-issue-to-encourage-use/article_8c18aee3-e060-5fbf-9293-25f7bc99f759.html
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