Health official describes racist attack after council meeting on masks

By Aya Elamroussi and Andy Rose, CNN

A person who attended a St. Louis County Council meeting last week where officials voted to overturn a mask mandate has tested positive for Covid-19, officials said Saturday.

“Out of an abundance of caution it is recommended that anyone who attended the council meeting quarantine for the next nine days and monitor their symptoms,” the St. Louis health department said Saturday in a news release.

The city and county of St. Louis announced a mask mandate last week that required people five and older to wear masks in indoor public spaces and on public transportation following a spike in cases of Covid-19.

The move was met with resistance from both local and state officials.

Missouri’s attorney general filed a lawsuit the day the mandate went into effect.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis County Council voted 5-2 Tuesday to overturn the mask mandate, which was announced by County Executive Dr. Sam Page the day prior.

It was an attendee of that meeting that tested positive for Covid-19. Most of those who made a public comment at the meeting were in favor of reversing the mask mandate and few wore masks.

Despite the vote, Page said the mask mandate is still in effect until the lawsuit is resolved.

Faisal Khan, acting director of the Saint Louis County Department of Public Health spoke at the meeting to explain the public health rationale behind the mask mandate and later told CNN he faced “racist, xenophobic, and threatening behavior” from the crowd.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Jennifer Henderson and Raja Razek contributed to this report.