SE Iowa News

The Lee County Sheriff's Department isn't enforcing wearing masks or face coverings, but businesses and organizations in the area are still encouraging customers to wear masks. 

Angelini's restaurant in Lee County requires employees to wear masks and encourages customers to do the same, WGEM reported. The restaurant believes people should be doing what they can to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

"We wear face masks all the time," Angelini's Assistant Manager Kelsie Kraus told WGEM.

In an area where masks aren't required, many people aren't wearing them, even in stores that have a mask requirement. 

"You go to the store where it's required, there's still people walking around with no mask," Kraus told WGEM.

Lee County Sheriff Stacy Weber said he isn't enforcing people to wear masks, because there is no state requirement. But the Lee County Board of Health is discussing making it a mandate. Weber said if there is a mandate, he isn't "keen" on enforcing it, WGEM reported. 

"I think what everyone in law enforcement is trying to tell the board of health, is pump the breaks here a little bit," Weber told WGEM. "We're in the red zone now. Now all of a sudden we're going to make everyone wear a mask? If we were going to be doing this, maybe three weeks ago would have been the time to be doing it."

While there is no state or county mandate, Weber said the sheriff's department will help enforce a mask requirement if stores are individually requiring customers to wear one. 

"They can tell a person that walks in, they can refuse the service and say please leave," Weber told WGEM. "If you don't, we could call the police and you could be sited for trespass. That is a law in the books that we will get behind."

But the county will need more than store requirements if it wants to beat the coronavirus. 

"Iowa should have mandated it a long time ago," Kraus told WGEM. "That's why we're the ones that are like rising like crazy right now."