Tulsa City Council To Hold Special Meeting To Discuss Mask Ordinance

The Tulsa City Council is getting ready to discuss a possible mask ordinance.

The agenda for Monday evening’s special meeting states the council will consider masks, as well as social distancing requirements. It also states the council will discuss lowering the age for mask exemptions.

As we've reported, Mayor GT Bynum has said several times recently he has no plans to impose a mask mandate.

News On 6 will be at the meeting Monday to bring you all the details.

City councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper sent the following statement to News On 6:

On Thursday, August 12 Tulsa City Councilors Vanessa Hall-Harper - District 1 (Chairwoman), Kara Joy McKee - District 4, and Lori Decter Wright - District 7 (Vice-Chairwoman) have called for a Special Meeting of the Council to take place at City Hall on Monday, August 16, 2021 at 6 p.m. in response to the growing concerns from citizens regarding the growing infection rates of Covid-19 Delta variant across our community.

In reviewing the updates of the City’s Covid-19 Policy Working Group presented in the Council’s Public Works Committee Meeting at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 11 along with mounting calls to act from constituents including healthcare providers, business owners, school board members and administrators, teachers, parents, and students, the Councilors are co-sponsoring a proposed ordinance to require that masks be worn by people ages 4 and up, vaccinated or not, while indoors. There are additional exceptions included in the ordinance language, as previously outlined in the mask ordinance the City had in place from July 2020-April 2021.

The co-sponsoring Councilors state, “With the current high rate of documented Covid-19 transmission in our City and County, low rate of vaccination for people eligible to receive it, and already overtaxed local hospital systems, we felt compelled to call this Special Meeting to discuss possible municipal legislative action we might implement this week rather than wait until our next regularly scheduled meeting on August 25.”