HOT SPRINGS -- The city of Hot Springs reinstated its mask mandate for all city buildings on Tuesday as a precautionary measure given what City Manager Bill Burrough called "major increases" in covid-19 cases in Arkansas and surrounding states.
In an email the city sent out on Tuesday, Burrough said employees should wear their masks when outside of their work area and when 6 feet of social distancing cannot be maintained.
"This is precautionary, and I will re-evaluate the need the week of Jan. 10," Burrough said.
Masks will be required for city employees and any customers or visitors to city facilities, Deputy City Manager Lance Spicer said in an email to The Sentinel-Record on Tuesday.
"As he mentions, this requirement will be revisited after a period of days following the holidays," Spicer said. "We all hope this requirement will be short-lived and that the positivity rates and cases decline accordingly."
Burrough's email said that last week Texas cases were up 138%, in Georgia 174%, in Louisiana 192% and 509% in Florida.
"Typically, we see an increase after the holidays, and this precautionary measure will hopefully help prevent any widespread event in any of our departments," Burrough said.
The city's decision to reinstate its mask mandate came on the same day that Arkansas' coronavirus cases rose by 2,414. The number of new cases recorded Tuesday was the most in a single day since Sept. 9, near the height of the state's summer surge fueled by the delta variant.
As of last week, there were five positive cases within Hot Springs' city staff.
"One thing is certain, and that is we will see Omicron cases here, however, the positive news is that this variant does not appear as lethal as previous variants, such as Delta," Burrough said in the email. "Though cases spread at an alarming rate, in most states the hospitalizations and deaths did not experience the same increase."
Garland County lifted its mask mandate in October, and County Judge Darryl Mahoney said Tuesday the mandate has not been reinstated.
"We still have our signage strongly encouraging the wearing of masks, but have not looked at a mask mandate," Mahoney said in an email to The Sentinel-Record. "We will continue to monitor the situation and our staff."
Last week Little Rock officials extended the city's mask rule as cases of covid-19 rose.
With the mandate set to expire at the end of December, Little Rock's Board of Directors passed a resolution extending the mandate in city-owned buildings for another 120 days.
Little Rock's original mask mandate ended in May, but Mayor Frank Scott Jr. reimposed the rule in August when the delta variant spread across the state.
North Little Rock Mayor Terry Hartwick said Tuesday that the city is not considering a new mask mandate. City buildings display signs encouraging the wearing of masks but state it is not required.
Hartwick said any kind of mask mandate would be hard to enforce in the city, saying "there was no stick to it."
"We're going to stay where it stands right now," Hartwick said.
Marvin Day, county judge of Craighead County, said Tuesday that he wouldn't support a mask mandate for the county, saying the decision to wear a mask is a "personal decision."
"You've got vaccines out there that appear to be effective, and there is medicines coming out to help treat covid, and so I think they are able to do things on that," Day said. "I don't feel like Craighead County should be requiring someone to wear a mask. It's a personal decision."
Fayetteville officials voted in November to let the city's mask mandate expire Dec. 23, with members of the City Council saying the mandate had little effect on people's behavior.
Information for this article was contributed by Neal Earley of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.