A discussion about whether or not masks are necessary, whether rules should be enforced and on whom took place last week among an unexpected group: members of the Brown County Board of Health.

Board member Jeff Cambridge initiated the discussion when Health Officer Dr. Norman Oestrike finished his report to the board. “It’s going to get tough,” the doctor had just said, mentioning the recent spike in cases, the strain the nursing staff was already under, and the “lack of personal responsibility” he was seeing in terms of mask-wearing.

Oestrike was wearing an N95-style mask to the meeting, which was conducted over individual Zoom connections, and Cambridge asked if he was in a public place. He was, Oestrike said; he was in the Emergency Operations Center office. No one was around him right now, but they had been. And plus, he was in a high-risk group, he said.

Cambridge said he wasn’t trying to make any conclusions or create debate, but he believes that with proper social distancing and hand-washing, masks aren’t needed. Cambridge sits on the health board because he holds a pharmacy degree.

He said it’s the health board’s responsibility “to make sure that we are not creating fear. We’re creating safety.”

“Furthermore, a family’s decision to hold a gathering … is their own prerogative. And the state, the cities, the towns, their governance should have no influence on private gatherings. It’s the decision of those attending whether or not they are putting themselves or others at risk.” He said he didn’t want to see the board “take unwarranted action to clamp down on private gatherings.”

President Thomi Elmore, a layperson on the board, said she didn’t believe the board had anything to do with private functions, just public events and businesses. Oestrike said there is no way to enforce rules on private gatherings, but it is the health department’s role to help educate everyone that many infections now aren’t coming from large, public gatherings, but from smaller, private events.

“That has occurred every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Cambridge said. “People come down with colds, the flu and that leads to pneumonia. We should not escalate this to a fear level that is not outside what has occurred every year in history.”

He added: “People infected with COVID survive. Let’s not overdo this.”

COVID-19, the common cold and the flu are different viruses. Johns Hopkins Medicine reports that more than 1.3 million deaths have been reported worldwide from COVID-19, while 290,000 to 650,000 people die of flu-related causes worldwide each year.

Cambridge’s views were not shared by board as a whole. Most of its members are doctors or nurses.

Dr. Michael Day said that masks are effective, and the virus can spread further than 8 to 10 feet through droplets, hence, the reason for wearing them, especially in a poorly ventilated room.

Cambridge then said that he wasn’t disputing “that a mask is effective or otherwise”; if they didn’t work, then surgeons would not wear them during surgery.

Other board members encouraged the health department to follow up on complaints and come at them from an education standpoint first, according to the process set out in the governor’s order.

How effective enforcement will be remains to be seen. Health department employee Ernie Reed said that when they try to “educate” a business about the mandates, businesses don’t comply.

Oestrike said that if the health department asks someone to do something and they say no, they have to go to court to enforce it.

“Our basic operation is educational and asking for cooperation and for folks to respect their neighbors and friends and associates in dealing with this,” he said. The health department does have the power to shut down food establishments if they do not follow safety standards, “but when that happens, we try to do it just temporarily until problems are resolved.”

The health board and the health department are different entities, but they are related. The health board hires the health officer (Oestrike), and he is in charge of the health department.

Gov. Eric Holcomb’s Executive Order 20-48 states that: The ISDH (Indiana State Department of Health), Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Alcohol & Tobacco Commission, local boards of health, and other state and local officials or law enforcement officers may take all available administrative and enforcement actions against businesses or entities failing to comply with restrictions and other public health requirements for businesses as set forth in this executive order,” and lists incremental steps, starting with a warning and ending ultimately with business closure and referral to the prosecuting attorney if violations continue.

Board member Cindy Rose Wolpert, who’s a nurse and an attorney, said that ordinarily she would agree with Cambridge, but “we are under very unusual circumstances” and the governor’s order was pretty clear that health officials of each county are supposed to help enforce the mandates, which include wearing masks, etc.

“We think the businesses need to be open too,” Oestrike said, “but people have to follow the rules and stop the spread, and when they don’t, it’s hopeless.”