Omaha mask mandate still in place after judge's ruling

OMAHA — Don’t put away those masks yet. The indoor mask mandate in Nebraska’s largest city on Tuesday survived the first round in the state’s lawsuit to stop it.

Douglas County District Judge Shelly Stratman denied Attorney General Doug Peterson’s request to pause the Omaha mandate with a temporary injunction.

Stratman sided with Douglas County Health Director Lindsay Huse’s lawyers, who argued in Monday’s hearing that Huse had issued the ban in her role as the city’s health director. They argued she had the right under city code to enact the mandate.

In her order denying the injunction, the judge wrote that Huse appears to have derived her authority from the Omaha City Council and Omaha city code.

Read more: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/01/25/mask-mandate-still-in-place-after-judges-ruling/