Llano County once again under mask order following COVID-19 spike

At the beginning of September, Llano County had single-digit active COVID-19 cases and even went through a period where they didn’t have any new cases.

LLANO, Texas - After spending a week exempt from the state’s mask order, Llano County is now once again under the order.

The change comes after the county saw a recent spike in COVID-19 cases that put them over 20 active cases, the amount needed to have the order required.

At the beginning of September, Llano County had single-digit active COVID-19 cases and even went through a period where they didn’t have any new cases. This moved the county to push for an exemption from the state’s face covering mandate.

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Llano County moves to be exempt from mask order

If approved face coverings will no longer be mandated in the county however businesses, civic organizations, and city governments may still require face coverings if they chose so.

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This was eventually approved by the state, meaning people didn’t have to wear a mask while out and about. It lasted for about 7 days.

“It was and I hate to use the word liberating but it felt good not having to wear the mask all the time,” said County Judge Ron Cunningham. “I talked with our health director Dr. Franklin and we don’t know if it’s because of allergies people are coughing more or people are getting more lax in how they are handling COVID but we have definitely seen an increase in Llano County and it’s concerning."

Llano County chooses to keep mask order despite low COVID-19 case count

Llano County is now in a position where cases are low enough to opt-out of the Governor's mandatory mask order, but it is choosing not to do so.

Cunningham said he doesn’t believe this spike was caused by being exempt from the mask order as they’ve only had four new cases during that time, instead he felt the spike is test results taken before the exemption which are coming in late.

“I think we need to wait and see what’s going to happen with everything going on right now, it’s a fluid situation and it’s going to have to be considered,” said Cunningham.

While Cunningham said it was nice getting back to some sense or normalcy, he doesn’t mind donning the masks once again.

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