Trump Moved The Republican Convention From Charlotte To Avoid A Mask Mandate – Jacksonville Just Issued One

“At 5 p.m. today, the City of Jacksonville will be adopting a mandatory mask requirement for public & indoor locations, and in other situations where individuals cannot socially distance,” the City announced on Twitter.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, who was not present for the announcement on Monday, had said two weeks earlier that a mask mandate wouldn’t be a “prudent action to take” because “we do not need to have law enforcement out in public enforcing this” and “it’s not an efficient use of resources”

But Jordan Elsbury, Curry’s chief of staff, said Monday, “we have conversations with hospital providers and CDOs and other members of our community and we felt that it was time to take this step,” though the city’s public affairs director, Nikki Kimbleton, said the city would struggle to enforce the mandate and urged people to “exercise that personal responsibility and wear those masks.”

Elsbury said Curry came to the decision after a conference call with hospitals and after the Navy and the Coast Guard, both of which have bases in Jacksonville, required mask-wearing indoors.

The move comes as a blow to President Trump, who chose to relocate the main events of the convention from Charlotte earlier this month after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper rejected his plan to not require masks or social distancing at the event.

Asked how the mandate would be enforced at the convention, Duval County Sheriff Mike Williams said, “we’ll continue to work on that and have a detailed plan, what that may look like.”