At the May 3, 2021 meeting of the Garretson City Council, the Garretson mask resolution was repealed.
On November 9, 2020, as the pandemic reached peak infection rates in South Dakota, the Garretson City Council passed a resolution asking all residents to wear masks in businesses and public buildings within city limits. At that time, over 1,000 new cases were being diagnosed per day in SD and hospitals were overwhelmed. Minnehaha County bore the brunt of not only the new cases, but hospitalizations.
Mayor Greg Beaner recommended the resolution as a way to join the #MASKUPSODAK campaign that had begun on October 27.
At the time, he said, " I work with it (COVID) every day,” referencing his job with Sanford, and noted that the pandemic was worsening.
While there was no enforcement behind the resolution, it was hoped that it would encourage community members to support each other in the efforts to slow the spread of the virus. The council asked the community to work together to accomplish this goal, and most people took it seriously. Mask usage went up in Garretson.
New case numbers started declining significantly in South Dakota after mask mandates were put in place all over the state, and then dropped even further as vaccinations became widespread. As of the last week of April 2021, average new cases for Minnehaha County hovered around 40 per day. Statewide, the average was 134 new cases per day.
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