Colorado Springs mayor says a mask mandate isn’t out of the question

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers says that while he hasn’t made it mandatory for people to wear masks in public, he has thought about it.

A recent increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Colorado prompted Gov. Jared Polis to push Coloradans Thursday to wear a mask all the time in public. However, Polis stopped shy of issuing a mask mandate statewide, claiming it would be too hard to enforce.

Suthers says he, too, has concerns about enforcement. He says he’s not going to ask Colorado Springs police to write tickets to people who don’t wear a mask.

Polis did praise the more than 60 state municipalities that have ordered people to wear masks and said that worked out to a majority of the state.

However, Suthers says a mandate isn’t completely out of the question for Colorado Springs.

“For example, if the health department’s message is — either we do it or we’re going to face a regression — then we may, in fact, do that,” Suthers said.

The El Paso County Public Health Department hasn't issued a mandatory mask requirement, either.