Rapid City City Council tables mask mandate ordinance

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A mask mandate drew a capacity crowd to Rapid City Hall where public comment and debate on the proposed ordinance lasted nearly two and a-half hours Monday night.

In the end, the City Council voted to table the mask ordinance, which was a revised version of one discussed at a Nov. 19 special meeting.

Mayor Steve Allender cast the tie-breaking vote to effectively kill the ordinance that would have allowed businesses to post signs requiring customers to wear face coverings. But, Allender said after he voted that he didn't think there was anything for opponents to celebrate.

Nearly every seat in council chambers was filled and about half of those in the crowd weren't wearing masks, the Rapid City Journal reported.

Additional people were in the lobby of City Hall and cheered and applauded after hearing public comments they supported.

South Dakota leads the nation over the last two weeks in COVID-19 deaths per capita and new cases per capita, according to Johns Hopkins researchers.

The state has seen a downward tick in the daily average of new cases, but one in every 68 people in South Dakota tested positive in the past two weeks, while the state has reported nearly 33 deaths per 100,000 people. The state reported 509 new cases and no deaths on Monday.