Johnson County Health Department gets up to 100 calls a day with mask complaints
(WISH) — The Marion County Public Health Department says only two businesses including the Indianapolis Speedrome have been fined for violating social distancing and the mask mandate, but none of those fines have been paid.
The Public Health Department says a judge needs to determine if fines are needed and how much they should be.
Health departments tell News 8 they’d rather focus on education than punishment because they want people to understand the reasoning behind the masks and not have to fight to get people to cooperate.
The Johnson County Health Department’s phone rings up to 100 times a day with callers complaining about people they see out without a mask on, but it’s not the average Joe on the street that health officials are concerned about.
“I think it’s more important to us to police those facilities where the employees are not wearing masks,” said Dr. Craig Moorman, Johnson County’s health officer, “especially food restaurants and food facilities.”
Johnson County has issued no citations or fines. They say it’s because most businesses are doing well and the health department wants to correct bad behavior instead of punishing it.
“And if they are able to understand why we do these things and the science — how this virus operates, what are more risky behaviors than others — then they can make good decisions,” Moorman said.
The Johnson County Health Department says it’s still important for a mask mandate to be in place so more people see it as a requirement for being in public.
“Before that, we were trying to encourage people to wear masks,” Moorman said. “But it was really nice to have it in black and white. To have the mandate took the pressure off of us to try to educate people.”
Johnson County Health Department officials say they know plenty of calls will still come.
“There are always people out there that don’t want to comply, and it’s not going to be able to capture all those people,” Moorman said. “So if most people comply — team players — that’s all we need.”
Johnson County says it isn’t against fining businesses.