Two Ark City residents have filed suit against Cowley County Public Health Officer Thomas Langer over a COVID-related public health order issued last week.
Robert D. Wilson and Brandon Every filed the suit this morning in Cowley County Dist. Court in Ark City. Their claim is that Langer lacks unilateral authority to keep the COVID-19 isolation period at 10 days for those who test positive in the county.
The Centers for Disease Control and Kansas Dept. of Health and Environment recommend a 5-day isolation period before those who test positive are allowed to return to work or school. After 5 days of isolation, CDC and KDHE recommend 5 days of mask wearing.
Langer’s decision to keep Cowley County at 10 days was a factor in Ark City USD 470’s decision to close for the week last week due to illness and staffing issues.
A hearing on the suit is set for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon in Ark City. Senior Judge James Fleetwood, from Sedgwick County, will consider the case and have 7 days to rule.
Wilson and Every contend that Langer is in violation of Senate Bill 40, which was passed last year to amend K.S.A. 65-201. That amendment, they said, states that the board of county commissioners is the county board of health for individual counties.
Had Langer deemed it necessary to issue an order “that controls movement of the population of the county, curtails the operation of business in the county, together with other effects” he “shall propose such an order to the Board of County Commissioners” for approval.
If the City-Cowley County Board of Health were deemed to be this county’s board of health and not the commission, an amendment to the suit reads, Langer would need their approval. The suit says because Langer did not have approval of either the health board or county commission, his unilateral order on the 10-day isolation is ineffective and of no force.
This county has a public health board separate from the county commission so the judge will determine how Senate Bill 40 applies.
As business owners Every and Wilson contend they are aggrieved by Langer’s order due to its effect on commerce. Every is also a parent of minor children attending public schools in Cowley County and thus affected by Langer’s ruling, the suit reads.
Langer opted to stick with a 10-day isolation period because he believes the mask portion of the CDC 5-day isolation, 5-day mask guidance, will not be followed.