Local health officials applaud Oregon mask requirement

Dr. Jim Shames said that he thinks the new statewide requirement will help curb the rise in COVID-19 cases.

Are hoping this will allow people to continue to shop while staying safe.

Jackson county is continuing to see new coronavirus cases over the last week, there have been 21 new cases, and now the requirement that all oregonians wear a mask in public places in an effort to stop the spread.

Joining us once again, dr. jim shames medical director for jackson county.

Thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you for having me.

So what is your reaction to the mass requirement being made official statewide today?

I think it's a great idea.

Um, i i've been quite concerned that.

As people have moved about that, that one key feature is something that people just don't seem to understand that when you're going to go, go into a store, be around others, that you need to be covering your face to keep everyone safe.

So i'm very glad that governor has done this statewide.

I think it's the kind of impetus that we, we need here.

Have you seen any indication that it's being effective in northern counties?

Because we still see cases going, especially in the counties that were already hardest hit.

Well, we need to remember that everything we're seeing now occurred back in the past, and that's part of the problem with this disease.

People look around and think, i don't see the problem, but, you know, as the case has built up, the numbers start increasing rather quickly.

So i think we won't see the effect of mandatory, um, masking for example, until a couple of weeks later, i don't, i don't think we'll see the.

Just say we didn't see the effects of reopening until a bit of time went by.

And then we said, aha, you know, look at that in a moral day, weekends and people, you know, moving about and not being careful.

How challenging is it going to be doing for something like this and who becomes the mask police, where people in southern north.

Um, i don't know that we need mass police.

I think sometimes we just need people to be aware of what's the right thing to do.

Uh, i think the signs can be unambiguous.

The messages from workplaces can be unambiguous.

Osha has responsibility to keep us safe when we go into it into a store and it keep the workers safe and you know, that that'll