Dubuque Times

After the Dubuque City Council passed a mandate that requires people in the city to wear face masks or coverings, a group of citizens filed a petition that demands the mandate be repealed. 

The petition has 560 signatures and was submitted by the UnMask DBQ group, the Telegraph Herald reported. It claims the mandate to be unlawful. 

The mandate requires people within the city to wear masks in outdoor and indoor public areas and has been in effect since Aug. 8. 

While the CDC said wearing face masks can help prevent the spread of COVID-19, not all residents in the city feel Dubuque has enough evidence to say wearing a mask should be a mandate. 

“They don’t have any concrete proof that this is actually effective,” Nichole Weber, member of UnMask DBQ, told the Telegraph Herald. 

She said masks are a burden that isn't necessary since there isn't enough evidence to suggest they work in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. 

“They don’t know how things operate here demographically,” Weber told the Telegraph Herald. “They aren’t taking into account how this is affecting people.”

Not only that, but she said the city has seen an increase in the amount of coronavirus cases, which goes against saying masks prevent the spread of the virus. 

But Dubuque Mayor Roy Buol said there is an "overwhelming" amount of evidence to show that masks help prevent the spread. 

“How many different professionals and studies do these people have to hear to believe that masks are the one single best way to knock down the transmission of the virus?” Buol told the Telegraph Herald. “I don’t understand why they don’t want to do what is best for the community.”