A Florida appeals court has overruled a trial court’s finding that there was no legal basis to grant an injunction against a COVID-19 mask mandate put in place in Alachua County last year.
In a split decision, the First District Court of Appeal found that a trial court did not consider the privacy arguments of plaintiff Justin Green’s bid for an emergency injunction against the county’s mask order, which was phased out in May.
“Green argues, among other points, that the county’s command that he wear something on his face violated his fundamental right to privacy,” the court’s June 11 opinion states. “He moved for an emergency temporary injunction, and after a hearing, the trial court denied his request.”
Green appealed the lower court’s order, and the appeals court had decided to send the case back to the trial court, explaining that the judge failed to apply the strict scrutiny that the state Supreme Court demands in such constitutional challenges.
“We cannot reconcile this analysis of the trial court with the express privacy guarantee found in the Florida Constitution, as it has been characterized and interpreted by our Supreme Court,” the opinion says.
Mark Sexton, the county’s communications and legislative affairs director, said the county has the right to appeal the decision, but he has not heard much discussion about an urgent need to appeal it.
“This is all kind of moot,” Sexton told the Florida Record. “Our masking ordinance hasn’t been in effect for over a month.”
The appeals court’s elevated standard to enact a mask ordinance would likely not have been an impediment last year during the height of the pandemic, when there was a pressing need for government action, he said.
“Frankly, if we had been held to that standard a year ago, when we did the masking ordinance, we think we could have demonstrated that need,” Sexton said.
He noted that other states, counties and nations enacted such mask mandates during the coronavirus pandemic. In Alachua County, the measure was viewed as a public health necessity, and no citations were ever written to enforce the ordinance, according to Sexton.
“We’re confident it saved a lot of lives,” he said.
The county will need to examine new legislation signed by the governor that limits the powers of local governments in certain situations, according to Sexton. But overall, county officials seem to be turning the page on the mask mandate and looking more to protect the public by getting the word out on the availability of COVID-19 vaccines, he said.