Town of Boone will require face masks starting Saturday

Officials said law enforcement will immediately seek compliance with this mask order, but will not start issuing fines until 3 weeks after it is effective.

After three weeks, officials will be handing out penalties for people who are not wearing masks.

Young children, along with people who cannot wear a mask, are exempt from this new order.

One council member said she was against the masks because she did not want to "criminalize behavior" in Boone, when most of the people who come into Boone are tourists.

Boone Councilman Sam Furgiuele first proposed the mask mandate.

"We need to do everything we could to try to reduce the transmission and protect the residents of Boone," he said.