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Upholding Requirement, Court Compares Mask Mandate to Smoking Bans in Public Places

January 28, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 3 Comments

The Palm Beach County Commission at a June meeting when it approved a mandatory mask mandate. It did so during a workshop.
The Palm Beach County Commission at a June meeting when it approved a mandatory mask mandate. It did so during a workshop.

A state appeals court Wednesday rejected a challenge to a Palm Beach County requirement that people wear face masks in businesses and other public places to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.




The 10-page ruling by a panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld a circuit judge’s refusal to issue a temporary injunction to block the mask mandate. It also came after similar challenges have been filed to mask requirements in other parts of the state.

Five residents who filed the Palm Beach County case argued in the appeal that the mask mandate violated a constitutional right to refuse medical treatment and that the circuit judge used an incorrect legal standard in evaluating the issue. But the appeals court said the Palm Beach county requirement “does not implicate the constitutional right to choose or refuse medical treatment.”

“(Requiring) facial coverings to be worn in public is not primarily directed at treating a medical condition of the person wearing the mask/shield,” said the ruling, written by Judge Alan Forst and joined by Judges Martha Warner and Mark Klingensmith. “Instead, requiring individuals to cover their nose and mouth while out in public is intended to prevent the transmission from the wearer of the facial covering to others (with a secondary benefit being protection of the mask wearer). Requiring facial coverings in public settings is akin to the state’s prohibiting individuals from smoking in enclosed indoor workplaces.”

Palm Beach County issued an emergency order in June that required face coverings to be worn at businesses and government facilities, on public transportation and in other public places where social distancing is not possible. The order, which has been extended several times, includes exceptions to the mask requirement for such things as eating, according to the appeals court.




Days after the order was issued, the residents filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary injunction and raised issues such as alleged violations of privacy and due-process rights. After the circuit judge ruled against them, they went to the appeals court, where they focused on the issue of whether the order violated the right to refuse medical treatment, according to the ruling.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has declined to issue a statewide mask mandate amid the coronavirus pandemic, but numerous local governments have approved such requirements. Palm Beach County has been one of the hardest-hit areas of the state during the pandemic, with 103,495 reported cases and 2,125 resident deaths as of a Tuesday count, according to the Florida Department of Health.

The local mask requirements, however, have drawn fierce opposition — and legal challenges — from residents in some areas of the state. The 1st District Court of Appeal, for example, heard arguments in November in a challenge to an Alachua County mask requirement, though it has not issued a ruling.

–Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida

Click to access palm-beach-county-mask-mandate-opinion.pdf

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Steve says

    January 28, 2021 at 1:09 pm

    For the Life of me I cannot wrap my mind around why we as a Societycontinue to bat this topic back and forth over a F’in mask to help prevent the spread of a Virus that kills some people. I just dont get it.

    Reply
    • TR says

      January 29, 2021 at 8:54 am

      [Comment disallowed. False, fabricated information.–FL]

      Reply
    • EVA says

      January 29, 2021 at 10:15 am

      Incomprehensible stupidity for sure!!

      Reply

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