Ask The Answer Person: About the "$300 fine" for not wearing a mask

Steve e-mails: "What about the pending proposal going to the Winneshiek County Supervisors about the $300 fine proposed by the Health Department if you don't wear a mask? Are they planning on using the 'trespassing statute' to enforce this as a crime?"

The Answer Person says: "It took us a long time to track down where this rumor came from--and, to our surprise, we found it was a Facebook post by the Winneshiek County Republican Party!  

The post said, in part, that the Decorah City Council 'is a nefarious group' which is trying to convince supervisors to pass an ordinance that anyone anywhere in the county caught not wearing a mask 'can be issued a trespassing violation which carries a $300 fine.'

The post linked to a decorahnews.com story, which is why we're stepping into this Facebook controversy to state that IN NO WAY is this what our story said!  The truth is that the Decorah City Council action was a resolution, not an ordinance, so it's just the city council's opinion that wearing a mask is a good thing.

In short, there's no $300 fine, there's no trespassing conviction, and the Winneshiek County Republican Party Facebook post is 'fake news.'"