A Little Rock mask mandate for municipal-owned or municipal-operated buildings that was set to expire in late December will continue through April, unless members of the city's Board of Directors act to end it sooner.
City directors voted during a meeting Tuesday to adopt a resolution extending a local disaster emergency declaration for 120 days, until April 26.
Under the resolution, board members will get the opportunity to review the disaster declaration around the end of each month.
Vice Mayor Lance Hines, who represents Ward 5, was the only audible no vote. Before the vote, he questioned the extension of a local emergency when none exists at the state level. Gov. Asa Hutchinson allowed the state public health emergency to end in late September.
At-large City Director Dean Kumpuris, a gastroenterologist who serves as chairman of the city's local covid-19 task force that was created during the early days of the pandemic, cited vaccination rates in Arkansas as well as the emergence of the highly transmissible omicron variant.
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A factor that decreases the odds of an individual getting or spreading the virus "are these silly masks that no one likes to wear," Kumpuris said during the meeting.
Referring to the absence of a state emergency, Kumpuris said that did not mean it was not the right thing to do and suggested that the local covid-19 task force was unanimous on the subject of masks.
On Thursday, the state reported the largest one-day increase in covid-19 cases since Sept. 24, according to data from the state Department of Health.
Another 1,314 cases of the coronavirus were reported, raising the cumulative total since March 2020 to 547,248. Active cases rose by 633, to 8,595. It was the largest number of cases considered currently infectious since the Health Department recorded 9,543 active cases on Oct. 3.
Mayor Frank Scott Jr. reimposed a mask mandate for city buildings in August amid a surge of coronavirus cases in Arkansas after ending a similar mandate in May.
The earlier mandate ended after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance on mask-wearing by vaccinated individuals.
While not affected by the latest mandate, business owners were strongly encouraged to do the same when Scott issued the order in August.
At-large City Director Joan Adcock asked during Tuesday's board meeting about the possibility of the city offering monetary incentives for individuals who receive booster shots.
City-sponsored vaccination clinics have offered up to $100 in the form of a Visa cash card for individuals receiving shots, using funding that the city has received from the American Rescue Plan Act.
City Manager Bruce Moore told Adcock that because the city was using federal money, officials were waiting to see if the CDC would change the definition of fully vaccinated to include booster shots.