Updated at 8:36 p.m.: Revised to include reaction from Commissioner J.J. Koch.

People in Dallas County will soon be required to wear face coverings when they work or shop at essential businesses and use public transit.

The mandate goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. Friday, County Judge Clay Jenkins announced Thursday.

The coverings will be required for everyone older than 2, and homemade face coverings such as scarves and bandannas are acceptable alternatives for masks.

Businesses may refuse entry to people who aren’t covering their faces, and people could face a $1,000 fine for failing to heed the order.

Jenkins’ directive didn’t go over well with at least two county commissioners. Both John Wiley Price and J.J. Koch said they were moving to call an emergency meeting Friday, upset that the judge did not discuss his plans with the court.

“Apparently Judge Jenkins did not read the minutes of our last meeting, which said that for any kind of move we expected to be collaborated with or at least consulted,” Price said.

Price said requiring people to wear “a mask for mask’s sake” didn’t make any sense without being part of a larger plan.

“If we’re talking about a phasing in and reopening this county, that’s one thing, but to just come out with some knee-jerk reaction that oh, you need to wear a mask, that’s not going anywhere,” he said.

Koch was similarly displeased with the move, saying the county is already stretched in terms of resources and patience and there was no need for a mask requirement.

“We’re flat and we’re not going to see any greater peak,” he said. “Unless we’re going to be opening up some nonessential businesses next week, it doesn’t make sense. “We’ve already stretched the patience of our citizens really thin, and they’ve started to see that the emperor has no clothes.”

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Jenkins said the county isn’t asking people to buy surgical masks — frontline workers need those, he said. In a pinch, a pillow case or a towel could work as a face covering.

People don’t need to wear face coverings to go for a walk or jog in their neighborhood, Jenkins said, or while they’re in the car on the way to the grocery store.

Dallas County will likely see more cases and deaths as the coronavirus peak approaches, he said. But the need for face coverings isn’t because the spread of the virus is worsening, he said.

“It’s not that things are getting worse — we’re actually flattening the curve,” he said. “But by doing this, we hopefully can get this over with faster and keep people safer while we’re getting it over with.”

Dr. Philip Huang, the county’s health director, said the guidance about wearing face coverings in public changed during the response to the pandemic as health officials learned more about how the virus can be spread by people who aren’t showing any symptoms.

Jenkins urged people to keep making good choices to limit the spread of the virus, including limiting all unnecessary trips to the grocery store or elsewhere.

“To honor the sacrifice you’ve already made … please follow these guidelines. Please follow these orders. Please continue to do what you’ve done as a community,” he said.

It’s understandable to want to “take your foot off the gas,” Jenkins said.

“But when you do that, it just puts us in a situation where we drag this out longer," he said.

New Dallas County cases

Meanwhile, Dallas County on Thursday reported seven new COVID-19 deaths — its second-highest daily toll — to bring the county’s total to 50. Eighteen of those deaths have been reported in the last three days.

The county also reported 80 additional positive coronavirus tests. So far, 2,066 Dallas County residents have tested positive.

Of the seven deaths, three were of residents in long-term facilities in Dallas who had been critically ill in area hospitals. One was a man in his 70s, one was a man in his 80s, and the other was a woman in her 80s. Seventeen of the county’s 50 deaths have been residents of such facilities.

The four other deaths were three men from Dallas — two in their 60s and one in his 70s — and a Garland woman in her 70s.

Officials didn’t name the long-term care facilities where the latest coronavirus victims lived. Huang announced the latest figures Thursday for cases at nine long-term care facilities in Dallas County where cases have been reported. The totals include both residents and staff members of the facilities, he said.

Brentwood Place One in Pleasant Grove: 60 cases, five deaths

Brentwood Place Two in Pleasant Grove: 10 cases, one death

Edgemere Luxury Living in North Dallas: 11 cases, three deaths

Monticello West in Oak Lawn: 19 cases, four deaths

The Reserve at Richardson: 8 cases, two deaths

Skyline Nursing Center in west Oak Cliff: 46 cases, one death

St. Joseph Village Coppell: One case, no deaths

The Villages of Dallas in east Oak Cliff: One case, no deaths

Winters Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Garland: Two cases, one death

At the Dallas County Jail, 51 inmates had tested positive as of Thursday, along with an additional eight jail employees, Huang said. He didn’t say the total number of jail staffers who had tested positive so far, but the Texas Commission on Jail Standards’ report on Wednesday showed 16 jailers had tested positive and 12 more were quarantining pending test results.

The county also announced that both of its mobile coronavirus testing sites will be using self-swab kits, a less invasive and safer testing method, according to Randall Payton, incident commander in charge of the sites.

The sites — at parking lot E of the American Airlines Center and at Ellis Davis Field House — will also have a limit of testing 500 people a day per site, double the previous maximum.

To be tested, people must be 65 or older, have a chronic health condition or display three symptoms of COVID-19: a cough, a fever of at least 99.6 degrees and shortness of breath.

Collin County

A 93-year-old McKinney woman died of COVID-19 at her home, officials announced Thursday. She was the 11th person to die of coronavirus in Collin County.

“Our sincere thoughts and prayers are with this lady’s family and friends,” County Judge Chris Hill said in a statement. “We mourn together with them at the loss of their loved one.”

The county also announced 11 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, bringing the total to 505.

Of the total confirmed positive, 304 people have recovered. Of the 190 active cases, 17 people are hospitalized, and 173 are in home isolation, officials said.

Tarrant County

Four more people died in Tarrant County from the coronavirus, according to public officials, bringing the county’s total to 34.

All four were men who had underlying health conditions, the county said. Two of the men — one from Fort Worth and one from Mansfield — were in their 40s. The other two men were in their 60s — one from Fort Worth and the other from an unincorporated area of Tarrant County.

The county also reported 103 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. There have been 1,093 total cases, with 157 recoveries.

Denton County

A Flower Mound man in his 60s was the 15th Denton County resident to die of COVID-19, county health officials said Thursday.

“As we report the loss of a 15th life to COVID-19 in Denton County today, we hope everyone will take a moment to keep our fellow residents affected by this pandemic in your thoughts and prayers,” County Judge Andy Eads said in a prepared statement. “The seriousness of taking precautions cannot be overstated.”

The county also reported 17 more positive COVID-19 cases, bringing its total to 564.

Rockwall County

Two more coronavirus cases were reported in Rockwall County on Thursday, bringing the county’s total to 41.

Both of the new cases were residents of the city of Rockwall, which has now seen 27 cases. One is in their 30s, and the other is in their 50s.

Kaufman County

Officials in Kaufman County reported zero new COVID-19 cases Thursday.

Thirty-three county residents have tested positive for the virus, with 22 of them living in the Forney/Mesquite area.

Johnson County

Johnson County officials said Thursday that four more residents had tested positive for the coronavirus.

The patients live in Alvarado, Cleburne, Mansfield and unincorporated Johnson County.

Two patients previously reported to live in unincorporated areas were removed from the county’s totals because of inaccurate data reported to the state, officials said. The county has had 44 total COVID-19 cases.

Ellis County

Five people who live in a Midlothian home, ranging in age from 2 to 55, have all tested positive for the coronavirus, county officials said Thursday.

A sixth new case, in Waxahachie, brings Ellis County’s total to 93 cases.

Officials also announced five recoveries from the virus, for a total of 17. There have been three COVID-19 deaths in Ellis County.