The Mount Vernon City Council discussed if masking was needed for youth under sixth grade at the Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center.
Mount Vernon City Council member Stephanie West raised the issue, indicating the action taken by the schools of Mount Vernon requiring mask wearing in school buildings during the school day.
Keeping mask use consistent for youth in preK through sixth grades at the center and other parts of the community would help with their mask wearing, West said.
There are a variety of programs now occurring at the Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center, said Mount Vernon parks and recreation director Matt Siders.
“We already have instances of kids and adults mixing, with some families choosing to wear masks while exercising, and others choosing to not do so,” Siders said. “My only concern if we were to impose any mask wearing restriction at the center is that we allow the opportunity to freeze memberships or allow people to cancel memberships without punishment.”
The center is maintaining cleaning procedures throughout the business and encourages social distancing as much as possible, Siders said.
Youth under 11 years old need to be accompanied by someone 16-years or older, while those over 11 are able to attend without adult supervision.
There have been no conflicts arising from people wearing or choosing not to wear masks or not, according to Siders.
While he found West’s logic was “irrefutable” with the request, Mount Vernon City Council member Tom Wieseler said with the latest numbers trending in the right direction, he wasn’t ready to institute mask policies at the center.
Mount Vernon City Council member Debra Herrmann concurred, noting that if numbers do start increasing rapidly, the city may need to pivot to help protect the number of people unable to be vaccinated in the community as of now.
“We need to be cognizant of the safety of our total patronage of the Buresh center,” Herrmann said.