CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Montgomery County has joined the growing number of Tennessee counties that have reinstated their mask orders.
Tuesday morning, Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett signed Emergency Order #21, which restores the requirement that all residents wear face masks.
The decision was made after discussions with the local health department and emergency services directors, Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts as well as several mayors in Middle Tennessee, according to a county news release.
Several other Middle Tennessee counties have resumed their mask orders, including Williamson, Wilson, Rutherford and Sumner. Davidson County has kept its mask mandate in place.
What the mask order says
The Montgomery County order requires cloth or other face coverings that cover the nose and mouth of a person to impede the spread of the virus during speaking, coughing, sneezing or other action. Face coverings have to be worn within all publicly accessible areas of commercial business establishments; persons present in the public areas of all Montgomery County and City of Clarksville government facilities, including Clarksville-Montgomery County School System; public outdoor areas where social distancing of at least six feet cannot be maintained and within publicly-accessible areas of business offices where there is direct interaction with the public and social distancing of at least six feet cannot be maintained. The order also requires any business open to the public to post a sign that can be found on the Montgomery County website, requiring masks on all public entrances.
The mandate will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, and is set expire at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 31, when Gov. Bill Lee’s Executive Order #63 giving authority to county mayors to issue COVID-19 mask requirements ends. If Lee extends the authority, Durrett will extend the mask mandate through Nov. 19, to allow at least 21 days of data to be tracked, the release said.
“Our trajectory is moving in the wrong direction,” Durrett said in the release. “While I appreciate there are differing opinions about masks, our local data suggests they work to reduce the incidence of this virus. Based on my conversations with other community leaders, we feel the mask mandate is in the best health interest of our residents.”
Pitts said he fully supports the mask mandate. “The City of Clarksville will do all we can to reinforce the county’s emergency order,” he said.
Numbers getting worse
The mask order was first imposed July 20, then was slimmed down on Sept. 8 and applied only to service businesses through Sept. 29, when that order was lifted.
Since that time, there’s been a significant increase in local active cases. The latest data for Montgomery County reveals the following:
- Active cases have more than doubled from 225 at the end of September to 532 cases by Oct. 26.
- By Sept. 30, there were 46 total COVID-19 related deaths, and today, there are 57 COVID-19 related deaths.
- The average daily case rate doubled from 22 in September to 41 by Oct. 26.
- The latest 14-day average is 50 new cases per day.
- Cases hit a record high this weekend with 102 new cases reported on Oct. 25.
“’We’ve seen a significant increase in active cases,” said Montgomery County Director of Health Joey Smith. “On Sept. 11, Montgomery County had 212 active cases and for 31 days we stayed in the 200s. It took only seven days to move from 299 to 427 active cases. Then it only took seven more days to move to 540 active cases. I appreciate Mayor Durrett taking action.”
Coronavirus numbers
Here are the Montgomery County numbers updated on the county’s dashboard as of Monday, Oct. 26:
- 23 daily new cases
- 3,927 total confirmed cases since March 6
- 532 active cases
- 139 total hospitalizations
- 57 total deaths
- 50,986 total negative lab results
Here are the numbers from the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, which were updated Monday, Oct. 26, on their respective dashboard:
- 6 students with active cases
- 482 students in quarantine
- 14 school employees with confirmed cases
- 14 school employees in quarantine
- 149 CMCSS employees on COVID-19 related leave
Here are the Austin Peay State University numbers, which have decreased slightly according to their dashboard:
- 29 students with confirmed cases
- 110 students in quarantine
- 5 staff and faculty members with confirmed cases
- 23 staff and faculty members in quarantine
Exceptions to mask order
Exceptions for wearing face-coverings include the following as outlined in Governor Lee’s Executive Order 54:
- Within one’s residence or automobile, unless transporting others for hire;
- By a child twelve (12) years of age or younger;
- By someone who has trouble breathing due to an underlying health condition or another bona fide medical or health-related reason for not wearing a face-covering;
- By someone who is incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the cloth face-covering without assistance;
- While eating or drinking;
- While outdoors, unless the person cannot substantially maintain appropriate social distancing from others outside of the person’s household;
- While working under conditions where appropriate social distancing from others outside of the person’s household is substantially maintained;
- In situations in which wearing a face-covering poses a safety or security risk;
- While in a house of worship unless required by that house of worship, but wearing a face covering in such locations is strongly encouraged; or
- While in a voting site for the purpose of voting or administering an election, but wearing a face covering in such locations is strongly encouraged.
COVID-19 tests are provided free of charge by the Montgomery County Health Department weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Civitan Park, located at 650 Bellamy Lane.
The Montgomery County Government web site has a host of COVID-19 related information, to include a COVID-19 dashboard, videos, signage, advice and previous mandates. You can also call 931-648-5787 for questions.
Keely Quinlan contributed to this report.