No matter how effective or ineffective you feel cloth face coverings are, if you refuse to wear one in public businesses in Teton County, you could be hit with a fine.

Now that Teton District Health Officer Dr. Travis Riddell’s mask order has gone into effect — being approved by state officials on Monday — it carries an up to $1,000 fine or six months in jail. Granted, you may not catch the entire penalty.

“Law enforcement can use discretion on this,” Riddell said. “That’s something that they do in their job every day.”

At a Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce webinar to help business owners deal with customers who don’t want to wear masks, Jackson police Sgt. Michelle Weber laid out three types of calls the Jackson Police Department received regarding the town mask ordinance. (The Jackson Town Council allowed that July 3 ordinance to expire because the Teton County health order superseded it.)

The first is from people searching for information on the ordinance. In those cases, police explain the terms or email the legislation to the caller.

A second type of call is for a defiant customer who refuses to wear a mask at a business and won’t leave. Stores have turned to the cops when that has happened, but Weber said officers weren’t necessarily enforcing the mask ordinance, even under those circumstances.

The third type of call police have received is from customers reporting businesses for not making employees wear masks. Technically, businesses could be fined for not following the public health orders, but Weber said the cops haven’t gone down that road.