Face Coverings Required In Evanston To Stem Spread Of Coronavirus

EVANSTON, IL — Face coverings are required for everyone in Evanston while shopping and working at essential businesses starting at 8 a.m. Thursday. The city becomes the sixth North Shore municipality where officials have made masks mandatory in certain public places, and the first where the order was not issued by a mayor or village president.

Wearing a face covering will also be mandatory while engaging in essential activities, such as visiting a health care professional, or riding on public transportation, taxis or app-based transportation networks, according to an order issued Monday by Health and Human Services Director Ike Ogbo.

The health director's order applies to those over the age of 2 who can safely cover their noses and mouths. It does not apply to those inside personal cars, those in the same household or people maintaining a six-foot distance from one another while outside. It is due to remain in place for the duration of the local state of emergency the mayor declared on March 15 and extended through at least May 11.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a recommendation on April 3 endorsing the use of face coverings when people are unable to practice social distancing. The CDC has published instructions on how to make, wear and clean cloth masks at home. The measure is aimed especially at reducing the risk of coronavirus transmission from asymptomatic carriers, who make up an as-yet-unknown proportion of those infected by the virus.

The order does not recommend members of the general public wear surgical masks or N95 respirators. Due to chronic shortages of protective equipment, public health officials recommend reserving medical-grade masks for emergency personnel and medical professionals.

Mayor Steve Hagerty said those who chose not to wear face coverings "may be fined." Operators of businesses may also choose to refuse admission or service to anyone who is not wearing a face covering, as required under Ogbo's order. Patrons of businesses that encounter other customers or employees without face coverings may call 311 to notify the city or inform a manager or employee, according to the mayor.

The order cites the portion of Evanston's city code permitting fines ranging from $25 to $750. It also notes that health department employees have powers of arrest. It was not immediately clear how the level of fines would be determined in the city's administrative adjudication process.

As of Tuesday, no one had been cited for violations of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's stay-at-home order, although police had issued some verbal warnings, according to Communications Manager Patrick Deignan. City officials are focused on educating businesses and residents in order to increase voluntary compliance rather than issuing fines, he said.

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There were 240 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among Evanston residents. Eight had died as of Monday afternoon, according to the Health and Human Services Department.

Evanston's face-covering order followed those in several other North Shore towns, including Glenview, Skokie, Northbrook, Highland Park and Wilmette. But in each of those communities, the local chief executive who issued the disaster declaration was the one to make the order. State law and local disaster declarations provide mayors and village presidents broad authority during a state of emergency. In Evanston, it was the health and human services director rather than the mayor to issue the order.

"Given that neither CDC nor the State (nor Chicago for that matter) have mandated face coverings, we have been reluctant to do so, believing that they have far greater resources, expertise, and information to make such a decision," Hagerty said in a newsletter explaining the move. "Nonetheless, several of our neighboring communities ... have recently issued face covering orders, and because we live in the same geographic area and share many of the same essential businesses and amenities, our Health and Human Services Director has concluded that it would be best for Evanston to issue a similar order."

In his order, Ogbo cites portions of the Illinois Municipal Code, Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act and the Evanston Municipal Code as granting its authority. The portions of the municipal code cited grant the mayor authority to declare an emergency and municipalities the ability pass regulations to promote health, suppress disease and regulate plumbing. The cited portion of the state emergency management law notes that local disasters may only be declared by chief executives. And the local code cited in Ogbo's April 20 order says the city's health department shall have the same rules and regulations for control of communicable diseases "as those promulgated by the State Health Department for the same diseases."

The order does not cite the portion of the city's code concerning "epidemic disease or of danger from an anticipated or impending epidemic disease." According to city code, in such a situation, "it shall be the duty of the Public Health Director or the City Manager or his/her designee to take such measures and to do, order and cause to be done such acts for the preservation of the public health as he/she may in good faith declare the public safety and health demands."