The soonest the Haines Borough Assembly would consider a public mask mandate, if it follows Emergency Operations Center (EOC) recommendations, would be when the community has at least nine active cases or is deemed a “high risk” COVID-19 environment for other reasons.

At a July 30 townhall, EOC incident commander Carolann Wooton presented a document titled “Haines EOC Risk Strategy and Recommendations,” which identifies COVID-19 mitigation measures for various levels of outbreak including low risk (0-1 active cases), medium risk (2-5 active cases), medium-high risk (6-8 active cases) and high risk (9 or more active cases).

The document states that risk assessment will be based on a broader range of factors than case numbers, alone, noting that the community has been operating as though at medium risk since the first positive case was reported in June.

At low risk, the EOC recommends little beyond encouraging travelers to quarantine or seek testing when entering the community, a measure currently in place in Haines.

Once the community reaches medium risk, the EOC recommends a broader range of mitigation measures, mostly voluntary ones like encouraging virtual meetings, outdoor activities and curbside deliveries. It also recommends implementation of a workplace masking policy for borough facilities.

If Haines becomes a high-risk environment, the EOC recommends a number of communitywide mandates, including ones requiring assembly action like a public mask mandate. Other high-risk mitigation measures range from library and museum closure to a hunker down recommendation for residents.

In addition, at every level of risk, the document recommends following state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines including masking, keeping social circles small, practicing good hygiene, maintaining distance from others and staying home if sick.

At last week’s townhall, community members spoke in favor of instituting a public mask mandate before Haines becomes a high-risk environment.

“I think it’s going to be too late for us when we get to high risk… If we want to keep our town open for business, then I think we need to take a cautious approach,” Sara Chapell said. “I really would like to see our leaders step up and say that we’re ready to protect our kids and community by putting some masks on.”

Wooton said although the document doesn’t recommend a mask mandate until Haines becomes a high-risk environment, she hopes the document’s existence will encourage people to voluntarily practice mitigation measures.

“The whole point of all this is to give everybody an understanding of what to expect so that hopefully people will have some self-ownership of it to take steps to make sure we don’t get there,” Wooton said. “We can keep an eye on where we’re at in this matrix and kind of go, ‘Maybe we need to start doing some different things.’”

Of the 15 people who submitted written comments about a mask mandate at the assembly’s last regular meeting, 11 were opposed, with many saying a mask mandate would infringe upon constitutional rights.

A communitywide mask mandate would need assembly approval to take effect. Like the community as a whole, assembly members hold a range of views on the subject of masking.

“I think that what we’ve been told is that the masks are really the only thing that can protect others and yourself,” assembly member Stephanie Scott said in an interview in mid-July.

“As far as I’m concerned, the jury’s still out on whether masking does anything,” assembly member Paul Rogers said in an interview around the same time.

Although the assembly may not implement a communitywide mask mandate anytime soon, at present, masks are required in all Haines Borough facilities including the school, library and harbor.

Interim borough manager Alekka Fullerton, who implemented the mask measure in late July, said she plans to keep the measure in place for the foreseeable future. She said the discrepancy between the mask mandate in borough facilities and the lack of a communitywide mandate has to do with the difference in the borough’s relationship to its citizens and employees.

“(As manager) I get to control the borough facilities. I am keeping the borough staff healthy and on the job to the best of my abilities,” Fullerton said. “Measures taken as an employer are different than mandates for average citizens.”

Like the borough, the State of Alaska mandates masks in its facilities but not for its citizens. Gov. Mike Dunleavy said although masking is strongly encouraged for the public, he has no plans to issue a statewide mandate, leaving it up to individual communities to decide. Several including Anchorage, Juneau, Gustavus, Seward, Valdez and Cordova have issued communitywide mask mandates in recent months.

Health experts continue to include mask wearing in the list of best practices for mitigating the spread of COVID-19.

“A review of the current literature reveals that the evidence for universal face masking is strong,” Haines health center director and EOC member Lylith Widmer said. She referenced several articles from governmental bodies, including the CDC, as well as peer-review medical journals.

An article from the Journal of the American Medical Association titled “Universal Masking to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Transmission—The Time Is Now” says, “At this critical juncture when COVID-19 is resurging, broad adoption of cloth face coverings is a civic duty, a small sacrifice reliant on a highly effective low-tech solution that can help turn the tide favorably in national and global efforts against COVID-19.”

The “Haines EOC Risk Strategy and Recommendations” document will go before the assembly for consideration at its Aug. 11 meeting.

As of Wednesday, Haines had zero active COVID-19 cases.