Owensville’s mental and physical health — and public safety — were concerns expressed Monday by the medical director of the county’s hospital, county health director, and the city’s elected marshal.

Dr. Michael Rothermich, MD, medical director at Hermann Area District Hospital, told aldermen “we’re slowly seeing an uptick in our area” of patients testing positive for the coronavirus.

He was concerned, he said, that county commission members, and officials in Hermann and Owensville, did not seem interested in mandating the wearing of masks.

Rothermich told aldermen about the first few weeks of conducting the rapid testing for coronavirus through Hermann Area District Hospital where one out of 50 tests would return as a positive.

In recent weeks, he’s conducted 160 tests and had 12 and 11 positive test results respectively. The county’s count of in-residence positives stood at 22 as of Tuesday with two additional cases reported Sunday.

“People are stopping here from out of the area,” said Rothermich, hinting the county is not immune from outside exposures.

Those from outside the county who receive testing in Hermann, and are found to be COVID-19 positive, are counted in the county where they reside, he told the crowd.

Rothermich said it’s a “dice roll” for him personally to conduct testing at the hospital, risking his own health, if the general public will not wear face masks.

“We don’t know enough about this yet to say we don’t need to worry about it,” Rothermich said. “We know people are surviving, But I worry about impact survival.”

He noted survivors talk of being in a “brain fog” mentally not to mention the longterm damage to their respiratory and circulation systems.

His philosophy at the beginning, after dealing with people “coughing and sneezing” all over his personal protective equipment (PPE), was to simply go home,  strip down, shower “head-to-toe,” and do the best he could to protect his family.

“Later,” he said, the realization was that his “number’s going to come up. I’m going to get it.”

He became emotion, but, continued, saying, “I’m young. I’m healthy. I’ve got no medical problems. I’ll be alright. But, some of the stuff we do makes me worry that isn’t the case, it’s going to be a dice roll and I don’t know what’s going to happen and I really don’t want to get this.”

He said he had to make a decision for his own personal well being.

“It doesn’t make sense for me, in general, to do all the PPE, and all the other stuff, and go into a business or store where no one else is wearing masks. Where no one else is doing the kinds of things we need to slow this down.”

Mayor John Kamler said that although the board re-authorized emergency mayoral powers in to a COVID-19 pandemic situation for the mayor at their July 6 meeting, he did not intend to take any action above what the county or state mandated without consulting and receiving board approval first.

He noted the local Walmart was “highly recommending” the wearing of face masks by customers since there was no county or city ordinance mandating such action.  That began Monday and Kamler, a maintenance supervisor there, said Walmart even offered free masks to customers without them.

“I was very pleasantly surprised that we didn’t get much push back,” said Kamler. “I wasn’t sure what to expect.”

Lara suggested that without ordinances mandating the wearing of masks, “maybe do a better job promoting it” and adding, “we would encourage business people in the community to wear a face mask.”

Owensville area resident Jerry Lairmore, the county’s Southern District Commissioner, told the crowd “businesses have the right to mandate face masks” and said the county governing commission has been “pretty consistent with following state recommendations.”

Kamler said he and the aldermen would “look into and discuss” this issue further.

Greg Lara, director of the county’s health department, would note during the more than 20-minute long discussion, that residents from outside the area were attracted to the businesses and tourist venues in Hermann and the county as a way to get away from their communities which may be affected by the virus.

“A lot of people from outside our area, with higher percentages, higher degrees of positives, are coming into our county,” said Lara. “We just want to make sure we’re doing the best for our communities.”

Asked about the scheduled reopening of county schools in August, he said if there were state, county or local mandates on the wearing of protective mask, that “would make the school’s jobs a lot easier” in “implementing these mitigating steps in the schools.”

Rothermich said those most susceptible to the virus are those without PPE who spend 15 minutes or more with, and are within 6 feet from, a person who has the virus. Wearing a mask, he told aldermen, can lessen the severity or “dose of virus” you can still receive compared to not wearing a mask.

City Marshal Robert Rickerd expressed concerns over community mental health issues and public safety. See story below.