Mandate nets no fines in first week

COEUR d’ALENE — One week after the Coeur d’Alene City Council passed a mandate requiring masks in public places, police have yet to issue any citations.

As of Monday afternoon, the Coeur d’Alene Police Department had received 14 phone calls related to the mandate, 10 of which were questions about the order.

Police also took one information report and responded to three calls about large gatherings. Detective Mario Rios said warnings were issued in those cases.

“Much like the chief and council said at last week’s meeting, it is still more about education,” Rios said Monday.

The new mask ordinance — approved Oct. 23, three days after Panhandle Health District’s board of health voted to rescind its countywide mandate — requires people to wear masks both indoors and outdoors within city limits, with some exceptions.

Children under the age of 10 are exempt from the mandate, as are people who cannot wear a face mask for medical reasons, first responders and people eating or drinking at restaurants. Masks are not required anywhere physical distancing can be maintained.

Noncompliance with the mandate is a civil infraction with a $100 fine.

In comparison, noncompliance with a health district mandate is a misdemeanor, punishable by fines up to $1,000 and possible time in jail. However, during the period when PHD’s countywide mask mandate was in effect, no arrests were made and no fines were issued.

Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White told the City Council last week that his department would enforce the mandate if instructed to.

Coeur d’Alene’s mask mandate remains in effect until Jan. 25, though it can be terminated early or extended.

Panhandle Health District reported 115 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, 96 of them in Kootenai County. Statewide, there were 757 new COVID-19 cases as of Monday.

Meanwhile, Kootenai Health reported Friday that 43 patients were being treated for COVID-19, with 14 of them in critical care.

As of Monday afternoon, 632 people in Idaho have died to due to complications from COVID-19.