PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Hundreds of people sounded off on the WPTV Facebook page Wednesday over whether face coverings should still be mandated in local counties.
This after Martin County commissioners voted to get rid of the county's mask mandate on Tuesday.
MASK MANDATES 😷 Do you think it's time for mask mandates to be done with, or are they still needed to stop the spread of COVID-19?STORY 👉 https://bit.ly/2FsRIiW
Posted by WPTV on Wednesday, October 14, 2020
In downtown West Palm Beach, most faces are covered and people are abiding by Palm Beach County's mask mandate, an executive order put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.
"If everybody wears a mask hopefully, we can protect and save lives," said Gail Marlow.
Marlow lives half of the year in Lake Worth and wants the county's mask mandate to remain in place.
"I just feel like this is never going to go away unless people start wearing masks," Marlow said.
But farther north in Palm Beach Gardens, Larisa Sito said she wears a mask and follows the rules, but she wants to see Palm Beach County follow Martin County after commissioners there voted on Tuesday to no longer require masks to be worn.
"I think at this point it should be a choice," Sito said. "We know how to run our own lives, we don't need the government to tell us how to do so."
But infectious disease specialist Dr. Olayemi Osiyemi tells WPTV the virus is not gone and going without masks with no vaccine available is a recipe for disaster.
"Until we have an effective vaccine and treatment, I think we should still be very cautious," Dr. Osiyemi said.
As the mask debate continues, Dr. Osiyemi said he's expects a second wave of the virus especially with the holidays around the corner.
