Aurora Mayor Hopes Education, Not Mandate, Gets People To Wear Masks

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)– Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said the city will not make it a requirement for people to wear masks in public, at the recommendation of Tri-County Health officials.

Coffman says Monday night he met with the Aurora City Council and the head of Tri-County Health. They decided an education campaign focusing on the importance of wearing masks was the best way to move forward.

"We will get greater compliance from this educational campaign than from forcing people. There will be people who will get their back up, they're not going to do it," Coffman told CBS4.

Coffman added that the executive director for the Tri-County Health Department, Dr. John Douglas, says they've evaluated 10 of the busiest grocery stores in Aurora and are already seeing a positive response regarding people wearing masks.

"They found an 85% compliance rate, which is very good by his standards. We want to raise that," said Coffman.

He also didn't think a mask mandate was enforceable in Aurora due to a lack of necessary law enforcement.

Coffman said he will re-evaluate the situation with face masks early next month.