Cape Coral votes down plan to mandate masks in public

After more than seven hours of public input taken over two sessions, the Cape Coral City Council voted 5-3 to reject a proposal to require wearing face protection in public as a defense against COVID-19.

What became known as the mandatory mask proposal, proposed by Mayor Joe Coviello, was the object of contentious debate.

Even as he saw his hope of winning approval for mandatory masks slip away as council members announced they would vote no, Coviello stuck to his position that requiring masks in public is needed to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The mayor told colleagues and the public, many of who watched from video screens set up outside the council chamber and outside the council building, that he thought the ordinance was needed on at least a temporary basis. 

"From what I have seen here today, there is a group of people who are not going to comply, who are not going to wear a mask, and that's OK if they so choose," Coviello said. "We've educated, Lee Health has educated, and it's continuing and people are still defiant and they will not wear a mask."

More:Cape Coral Council delays vote on public masks requirement

More:Fort Myers Beach votes in favor of masks requirement, keeps beaches open

Many opponents of the mask ordinance cited an assortment of civil liberties infringements they saw in requiring people to don masks in public.

Others claimed masks can't stop the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and that facial protection wouldn't do anything that would not be accomplished by hand washing or social distancing.

Some argued that the masks themselves are a health risk.

"Now you are going to allow this city and people in this city to discriminate against my children who are not wearing a mask because of health conditions," said Cape resident Janice Williams. "Pardon me if I don't trust your judgment on what's safe for me any more."

Residents opposed to requiring the use of masks also claimed that the progression of the coronavirus infection has changed to the point of playing down the deaths caused by COVID-19.

"This is not government's responsibility, to be telling us how to run our lives and how to take care of our children," said resident Brenda Clark. "My family has also had a loss to COVID, however I do not expect everyone to wear a mask because of it; they didn't die because of someone not wearing a mask."

Monday night's hearing was a continuation of a session that began Thursday night, but ran out of steam because of members exiting for other engagements, leaving the council without a quorum to continue business. 

State Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Naples, whose district includes parts of Collier and Hendry counties, made the trip Monday to Cape Coral.

"You do not have the authority to issue this kind of a mandate," Donalds told the Cape council members. "The Florida Legislature has never given any city or any county the authority to pass a mandate on its citizens on what they must put on their bodies."

Donalds said he understood fears held by people worried about the spread of coronavirus cases but said "the fear that you are having does not justify and does not give you the authority to issue mandates, that is clear by Florida law."

However, later in the meeting, City Attorney Dolores Melendez had a different view, when she advised the council that there have been challenges to mandatory mask ordinances in other Florida communities but "none of these mask ordinances" has gone through a formal challenge.

"In Florida, we do have a concept of home rule," Melendez said. "Basically local governments are able to act in areas as long as the state has not preempted those areas."

During council debate, council members tried to find statistics to suit their arguments that masks were either needed or an unnecessary intrusion

Fire Chief Ryan Lamb and a governmental affairs representative from Lee Health were  sent through an assortment of calculations of available statistical information, as council members attempted to prove, or disprove, that the coronavirus was spreading or affecting a smaller number of people, or a greater number of people or that its mortality rate had become less severe.

Ultimately, the issue was decided on council members' expectations of citizen behavior in the future.

Member Lois Welsh said that data suggested that handwashing, physical distancing and educating the population would have a good chance of making people more careful.

She attributed an increase in COVID--19 cases to a pent-up demand by residents gone stir-crazy.

“Most folks were pent up with ‘I’ve been stuck at home,’ not ‘I’m staying at home for safety,’  it’s been like ‘I’m stuck at home and I’m just gonna go out and do it’ and I think that people were careless,” Welsh said. “They didn’t realize the implications of their carelessness, but now that we see the data, I have confidence in our citizens to act intelligently.”

Some public speakers vowed to try to oust council members who supported a mandatory masks measure if it passed.

“Those things don’t really scare me, cancer scares me, my child getting sick scares me, my mom dying, that really scares me,” said council member Jennifer Nelson who voted for the measure while saying she didn't believe it would pass. “I really like the idea of education, putting together a formal community outreach program.”

In a last attempt to persuade other members to join him in supporting mandatory masks, Coviello expressed frustration with people who could go into supermarkets and restaurants without a mask, creating the potential for another spike in COVID-19.

“We’ve educated, Lee Health has educated, people are still defiant and they will not wear a mask,” Coviello said.  “I certainly hope that I am not looking back on tonight two or three weeks or a month from now and saying we could have done something that would have made a difference."

In addition to Coviello and Nelson, member John Carioscia, a retired police officer, also voted in favor of the ordinance.

Jessica Cosden, John Gunter, Rick Williams, Welsh and Marilyn Stout voted as a majority to reject the proposal.

Cape police said three people were arrested after causing a disturbance at the meeting and disregarding officers’ multiple warnings and lawful orders.

According to a police report, officers responded to assist officers working security for the meeting. Three people, identified as Kenneth Scott, 70, of Colorado, Edmee Chavannes, 39, of New York, and Bevelyn Beatty, 29, of Maine had caused a disturbance and attempted to enter City Hall via a restricted stairway, the report states. Officers tried multiple times to have the three enter properly through security, which was met with continued defiance, it said.

Officers then advised the three they would need to leave or be placed under arrest for trespass after warning. They continued to advance on officers against orders, and Chavannes and Beatty entered City Hall via the restricted stairway and entered council chambers, disturbing the lawful assembly, according to the report. Chavannes, Beatty and Scott were all escorted from the building while still resisting.

Scott was charged with trespass after warning and resisting an officer without violence. 

Chavannes and Beatty were also charged with trespass after warning and resisting an officer without violence, as well as disturbing a lawful assembly.