Mandatory Masks

Number of covid-19 cases in tennessee, and around the country, hamilton county mayor jim coppinger is now mandating wearing masks out in public.

News 12's winston reed explains what this means for the county, and what penalties you could face.

Hamilton county has accounted for almost three thousand positive cases of covid-19.

38 were added today.

35 county residents have died from the virus.

Mayor jim coppinger announced a mask mandate to slow down the growing rate of positive cases.

"this afternoon after much thought and consideration and consultation, i've asked doctor paul hendricks our health officer of the hamilton county health department to mandate wearing a facial covering or mask" said hamilton county mayor jim coppinger.

The mask requirement will officially begin on friday, july 10th at 12:01 a.m.

Regional director of the hamilton county health department becky barnes says public events with poor social distancing practices and masks have sped up the rate of positive cases.

"these events include graduations, weddings and the workplace."

Standup: "violating the mask mandate could lead to a class c misdemeanor equal to a 50 dollar fine or 30 days in jail whether you're an individual or a business."

"for examp if you have a place of business and two people in their that didn't have their mask on, the business owner could be fined for those two -two people.

Those two people could be fined as well."

There are numerous exemptions to the mask mandate rule such as churches, businesses that serve food, kids 12 years old and under, and certain medical disabilities.

To see the full exemption list go to our website.

That's wdef dot com reporting in hamilton county winston reed news 12 now.

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