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City council meeting of January 18, 2022 (Item No. 8c) Page 3 Attachment B Title: COVID-19 face covering policy options Should the emergency regulation pass, staff would plan to follow the enforcement guidance provided by council on Jan. 10. Additionally, inspections staff will visit businesses the week of Jan. 24 to conducteducationalvisitsand follow up on signage complaints. 911 dispatch will utilize prior scripting should calls be made about people not wearing masks. Unless a situation has escalated andneeds to be defused, police resources are not planned to be expended on enforcement activities. Previous discussion highlighted the added responsibility and challenges a mask mandate brings to frontline staff, be they city employees or employed within affected sectors. Following up on this question, staff researched demographic composition of a few fields. For consideration while the council deliberates: •Currently, 13.43% ofall City of St. Louis Parkbenefit earning staff identify as people of color. The percentage jumps to 18.42% of City front line workers in the position of having to enforce a mandate. (Conversely, only 6/1% of current non-benefit earning staff (e.g. warming house and front desk attendants) identify as people of color). •Throughout the pandemic there has been an equity/access concern regarding masks, color of masks and type of masks amongst our traditionally underserved communities. •Per American Community Survey data from 2014-2019, approximately 3,212 St. Louis Park residents work in the service industry; the data does not allow us to determine the demographic identities of those workers. That said, in the Twin Cities 7-county metro area, communities of color are more likely to work in frontline jobs overall—25% of frontline workers are of color compared with 23% of workers across all industries, based article). on an article in the Minnesota Compass dated Sept. 15, 2020 (MN Compass As additional surrounding context for council, below is a table of current masking mandates/resolutions. Additional jurisdictions are taking up this issue before the council meets again on Jan. 18, so the list may not be current by that date. The State of Minnesota has indicated that a statewide mask mandate is not being considered. Community mask Community mask Discussion City resolution mandate (requiring) pending (encouraging) Bloomington X Brooklyn Park X (in city facilities only) X (discussion on resolution) Edina X Hopkins X Golden Valley X Minneapolis X Minnetonka X St. Paul X Since the discussion on Jan. 10, the city proactively communicated with the public about the agenda item and has received a number of comments from residents, businesses and the health care system. As of Thursday afternoon, Jan. 13, we had approximately 17 comments provided from residents, businesses and the health care system. Of the feedback that was received, opinions were relatively even, with slightly more comments supporting implementing a mask mandate. The full comments received are included in this report.