On November 27, Mayor Oullahan announced that the mask ordinance would be lifted on Thanksgiving Day. Goodman endorsed this change, but delayed the change until noon, to ensure that masks would be worn at morning church services. As Stockton enthusiastically celebrated the end of masking, the mayor praised Goodman’s “handling of the health situation during the visitation of the disease that spared no community in its world-wide spread.”
Yet just a week later, rumors circulated that new measures were needed in response to increased cases. Over the next several days, as conditions were “assuming a threatening form,” Goodman recommended a second mask mandate. Once again, masks were required in public spaces, but no restrictions were imposed on public gatherings, and people were encouraged “to go ahead with their holiday buying.”
The second decree on masks prompted more forceful opposition. Business leaders argued that masks were “not proving the remedy the situation demands” and “accomplishing nothing.” On December 23, City Council revoked the mask ordinance, under pressure from commercial interests and despite Goodman’s opposition. Unable to sustain mandatory masking, Goodman appealed directly to the public: “People in theaters or wherever there are public gatherings, and persons who are meeting the public, such as clerks, should wear the masks for their own protection.”
As cases once again began to increase in early January, Goodman initially spoke reassuringly: “The situation is not alarming, and I, myself, feel that it is a great deal better.” On January 10, however, the mayor announced that the mask ordinance would be imposed once again: “the time has come for decisive action,” as the “situation is serious and critical.” The mayor offered this ringing endorsement:
Dr. Goodman, our efficient Health Officer, has been consistent and right all the way through. She deserves the co-operation and support of everyone…. Someone must lead, and that is her particular job just now. I know that there is in some quarters a disposition to be critical because the Health Officer is a woman, and this thought goes to impair her usefulness so far as the influence of those critics goes. But let me tell you that there is enough force and spunk and determination in that little woman to challenge the admiration of any man. With a profound sense of my duty, I call upon all the people of Stockton to back her up in her efforts to stamp out the prevailing epidemic.