Board of Health chair lifts Hill County mask mandate

Hill County Commissioner and Board of Health Chair Mark Peterson sent an email to the Havre Daily News this morning announcing that the county has reached the threshold required to lift the area's mask mandate.

"I am working on a draft to announce it," the email read.

The Havre Daily News had not received this draft by print deadline this morning.

In the meeting Feb. 18 where the mandate was voted for 3-1 it was determined that once the metric of 10 or fewer new COVID-19 cases per day per 100,000 residents was met the duration of the order, 90 days, could be changed.

However, the language of the order that was eventually signed by Peterson almost a month after the vote simply says it is in effect until the metric is reached.

Peterson said this morning he had spoken to all but one of the members of the health board on the issue.

Board Member Erica McKeon-Hanson said she doesn't know why the order Peterson signed is different from what was voted on.

"The intent of the Board of Health motion and subsequent vote on February 18th was to revisit the directive once the metric of 10 new cases/day/100,000 was reached for two consecutive weeks or 90 days, whichever occurred first," she said. "However, the order that was written up and signed by the Board Chair did not reflect that language for reasons unknown to me at this time."

Peterson has said he did not sign the order initially because of his concerns about how the mandate would be enforced.

When asked about the apparent contradiction between the vote made in February and the wording of the order, Peterson said they have not received minutes of that meeting as yet.

Last Monday the Hill County Board of Health had a heated discussion about the mandate in a meeting Peterson called because of his concerns regarding enforcement, but no votes were made because Board Secretary Kristi Kline said the public was not sufficiently notified about the potential for the board voting.