Face coverings are no longer required in county buildings

A file photo from April of a sign in a door window at the Garland County Court House saying that masks must be worn inside. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
A file photo from April of a sign in a door window at the Garland County Court House saying that masks must be worn inside. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record

An order filed Friday lifted the mask mandate, effective Monday, that had been in place for Garland County buildings for more than a year.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson lifted the statewide mask mandate at the end of March but allowed businesses and local governments to continue requiring face coverings in their buildings.

​​​​​"We're still recommending it, but we're not requiring it," County Judge Darryl Mahoney, who issued the executive order, said Tuesday. "If you want to come in without a mask, you can. We still have social distancing guidelines and plexiglass barriers in front of our staff."

The order doesn't apply to the county's four circuit court divisions, two district court divisions or the county court over which Mahoney presides. The state Supreme Court order issued Thursday requires courts to continue following Arkansas Department of Health guidelines for face coverings.

The order lifted the suspension of jury trials, effective May 1, the high court instituted in November.

"In our most recent order extending the suspension of jury trials through April 30, we noted the recent downward trend in COVID-19 infection rates and explained that, 'if positive progress continues, jury trials may resume May 1,'" the order said. "Indeed, according to public health officials, positive progress has continued as infection rates are down and vaccination rates are up. Therefore, we announce an end to the suspension of jury trials effective May 1."

Mahoney said temperature checks are still in effect at the entrance to the Garland County Court House and District Courts Building. They're no longer in effect at the Government Office Building that houses the county assessor and tax collector's offices and the Department of Finance and Administration's Hot Springs Revenue Office.

Several county offices had infected employees earlier in the pandemic, but Mahoney said Tuesday that he's unaware of any active infections among the county's roughly 400 full-time employees.

"I don't know if the transmission was ever on-site," Mahoney said. "It seems like everybody who contracted it got it from a family member or had been at church with other people who were positive. I don't think we had anybody who had a real serious illness from it."

He said the outbreak earlier this year in the Garland County Detention Center has abated. The Garland County Sheriff's Department said the first case was detected Jan. 6, with 12 out of 20 inmates in one housing unit testing positive for the virus.

"We held the outbreak at the jail off for about 10 months," Mahoney said. "We finally had a small outbreak out there, but they contained it very quickly in relation to other jails across the state. I credit (Chief Deputy of Corrections Steven Elrod) and (Sheriff Mike McCormick) for getting on that quickly and making sure we didn't have a problem out there."

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