Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins today announced that, beginning Saturday, April 18, anyone in the county who goes out in public — visiting essential businesses, working in essential businesses or riding public transportation — will be required to wear some sort of cloth mask covering their nose and mouth.

Those who fail to do so face steep fines.

Jenkins said, “We must limit all unnecessary trips. Each trip carries some risk to you, your family and the public at large. To better protect you and our frontline heroes, we are requiring all visitors to essential businesses, essential business employees and riders of public transportation to wear a cloth covering starting Saturday. … If a few of us slack off on making good personal responsibility decisions we not only put public health at risk but are prolonging this for ourselves and everyone.”

Jenkins announced the new regulation at the same time that he confirmed there were another 80 cases testing positive for COVID-19 over the last day, and another seven deaths. All seven deaths were senior citizens, and three of those were residents of long-term care facilities.

— Tammye Nash