FILE – This 2020 electron microscope image, made available by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, shows a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 particle isolated from a patient in a laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland (NIAID / NIH via AP, File)
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The Cayuga County Board of Health on Tuesday approved fines for six companies violating COVID-19 rules, but there was a debate over the penalties and the health department’s role in enforcing the state mask’s mandate.
The companies that paid $ 50 in fines are Arnold’s Family Restaurant in Weedsport, Bass Pro Shops in Aurelius, Bayside Grocery in Fair Haven, Fingerlakes Variety and Sports in Aurelius, New China Royal in Auburn, and Walmart in Auburn. At Walmart, a health department inspector found that two employees and 11 customers were not wearing a face cover.
Since the companies were first offenders, warrants of consent were issued by the health department. The companies signed the consent warrants acknowledging the violations and agreed to pay a $ 50 fine.
Before voting to approve the consent warrants, Dr. Brian Brundage, a member of the health council, asked Eileen O’Connor, director of the health department’s environmental hygiene department, if there is an expiration date for the state mask ordinance, which is in effect since April. O’Connor replied that there is no set date on which the ordinance will end, but that it will likely end once the pandemic is over.
“I don’t like the idea that the health department will become more of a law enforcement arm than it already is,” Brundage said. “This has the potential, if this spreads to other things, that we become police – that we go out and control the public in more and more different ways.”