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Huntsville city council members reacted to the numbers, max?

As you might imagine, talk of rising numbers brought up conversations about the need for people to wear masks.

And ordinance or not, members of the council were vocal in their support of facial coverings.

During tonights city council meeting, jeff birdwell director of madison county emergency management, explained that numbers are continuing to rise both at the local and state levels.

Even noting that 48 percent of the county's total cases had been registered in the last 14 days.

"as far as i know, we don't have a nursing home that's been infected, we don't have a large workforce that has been infected, at least that we know.

So you kind of put two and two together and we've just got general community spread going on."

During the meeting, birdwell as well as several city council members expressed the importance of wearing a mask to reduce the spread.

"i do believe people should have a choice, so that is my reluctancy to make it mandatory, per se."

"so, it's not something that's being imposed, it is not something that's silly, it's something that we just have to get used to."

Outside the meeting, where dozens gathered to watch a live stream, some said they felt completely comfortable