Wisconsin’s top public health official is backing Milwaukee’s reinstated mask mandate, even though there are no plans to enforce it.

Health Secretary-designee Karen Timberlake on Thursday said people are more likely to do what they are told, rather than what they are asked. So, she said, requiring masks is a good thing.

“What we also know is that where we are required to take an action, we are more likely to do it,” Timberlake explained. “So when you walk into a store that says ‘Masks are required,’ or ‘Please wear a mask,’ we know that more people will do it.

Milwaukee’s city council on Tuesday voted to reimpose a mask requirement.

Milwaukee Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson says the recent spike in omicron cases is driving the decision.

But as soon as city leaders approved the new mask mandate, they made it clear there will be no penalties for people who don’t mask-up.

“Our staff simply doesn’t have the capacity to do enforcement,” Johnson said on Tuesday.

Timberlake, on Thursday, didn’t comment on that.

“We applaud the efforts of Milwaukee leaders to reinstate a mask requirement across the city,” Timberlake said. “We think that’s a really important step to helping to contain the spread.”

Timberlake said that masks “work,” and once again suggested that people voluntarily mask-up in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee’s mask mandate will remain in effect, and unenforced until at least March 1.

Madison and Dane County also remain under a mask mandate, though public health managers there enforce the mask rules. The mask requirement in Dane County is in effect until February 1, though it’s likely to be extended here in the next week or so.

This article was originally posted on Wisconsin health secretary applauds Milwaukee’s toothless mask mandate