A. The City Council hereby finds and declares, based upon the scientific and medical evidence before it, that:
1. the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted and continues to dramatically impact the citizens of the City of Grand Island, Nebraska; and
2. exposure to COVID-19 presents a risk of death or serious long-term disability; the exposure is widespread and poses significant risk of harm, including death, to people in the general population of the City of Grand Island; there is a particular subset of the population that is more vulnerable to the threat and thus at an increased risk; and the threat is from a novel infectious disease; and
3. information from the World Health Organization, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, the Central District Health Department, local public health departments throughout Nebraska, and members of the City of Grand Island and Hall County medical community indicates that citizens of the City of Grand Island have been and will continue to be exposed due to community transmissions of COVID-19; and
4. the manner in which the spread of COVID-19 cases in the City of Grand Island has occurred creates an unacceptable risk to the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the City of Grand Island; and
5. the number of COVID-19 infections within the City of Grand Island continues to increase; and
6. COVID-19 constitutes a public nuisance and a threat to the health, safety, and welfare of the City of Grand Island; and
7. the CDC, doctors and infectious disease experts from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine have concluded that the wearing of face coverings by every individual while in public is one of the best methods to slow and stop the spread of COVID-19; and
8. the wearing of face coverings by every individual while indoors in public places in the City of Grand Island will reduce community transmissions of COVID-19, resulting in fewer deaths, serious health complications, and will ease the strain on hospitals and other medical offices and facilities; and
9. the wearing of face coverings by every individual while indoors in public places in the City of Grand Island will help keep businesses open and operating, encouraging economic growth, and preventing prolonged economic harm; and
10. this ordinance is designated as an urgent measure necessary to preservation of public health; and
11. it is just and proper for the City Council to exercise the authority granted to it by Nebraska statutes in furtherance of protecting the public health, safety, and welfare.