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Salt Lake County has imposed a masks mandate after Salt Lake Metropolis Mayor Erin Mendenhall urged county leaders Friday to place the “lifesaving” requirement in place to fight the dramatic unfold of the COVID-19 omicron variant that’s resulted in file case counts in Utah.
A 30-day public well being order issued Friday by Dr. Angela Dunn, head of the Salt Lake County Well being Division, requires everybody over 2 years previous within the county, no matter vaccination standing or previous COVID-19 an infection, to put on “well-fitting masks” indoors or if standing in line in public.
The masks mandate takes impact at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and stays in place till 5 p.m. on Feb. 7 applies to colleges, Dunn stated, that means Okay-12 college students should put on face coverings. She stated the brand new order is just like the masks mandate that began Friday in Summit County.
The mandates come because the Utah Division of Well being reported 9,469 new COVID-19 circumstances and 19 extra deaths from the virus, together with 5 previous to Dec. 7, 2021. The rolling seven-day common for % positivity of checks is just below 25% when all outcomes are counted and 16.8% when a number of checks by a person are excluded.
“We desperately want to make use of each instrument obtainable to make sure our hospitals can proceed offering wonderful well being care by means of this surge,” Dunn stated in an announcement.
“We additionally want to make sure that our important companies have the workers essential to function — from legislation enforcement, to plow drivers, to schoolteachers. It's my obligation as well being officer to take the motion I consider has the most effective likelihood to forestall pointless struggling all through our neighborhood,” she stated.
Will the masks mandate stand?
Underneath a legislation handed by the Utah Legislature to curb the ability of native governments to enact masks mandates and different pandemic-related restrictions, each the County Council and state lawmakers have the ability to overturn actions taken by native public well being departments.
Late Friday afternoon, Utah Home Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, and Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, stopped wanting saying the brand new masks mandates would stand.
“The Legislature has outlined a course of in SB195 with a number of checks and balances. Whereas we consider authorities mandates ought to be a final resort, we are going to assessment the not too long ago issued orders,” the legislative leaders stated in a joint assertion.
“As different areas have skilled, we hope Utah’s present COVID-19 surge is momentary. We proceed to encourage Utahns to get vaccinated and take precautions to maintain themselves and people round them wholesome with out overwhelming our hospitals,” they stated.
At a information convention, Mendenhall was requested if she’s involved there could also be legislative motion to cease the masks mandate. State lawmakers abruptly ended a statewide masks mandate final spring regardless of issues from well being specialists.
“I’m the Salt Lake Metropolis mayor, in order that’s all the time one thing that’s on the desk,” she stated, noting some lawmakers have already made it clear they intend to shut a loophole that allowed her to impose masks mandates, together with in colleges, final yr.
Dunn, who served as state epidemiologist all through a lot of the pandemic, stated she doesn’t anticipate lawmakers to step in as a result of they've “reiterated many times it is a native subject.” She stated she labored carefully with county council members on the language and there was help on each side of the aisle.
Salt Lake County Council Chairwoman Laurie Stringham, who's sick with COVID-19, was polling County Council members Friday, her aide, Abby Evans, stated. Evans stated the order would take impact as a result of a particular assembly would have needed to be known as Friday to roll it again.
However that doesn’t imply it received’t be taken up by the council, though it isn't presently on the council’s agenda for subsequent Tuesday’s assembly.
“There are presently no plans to rescind the order. Presently the Salt Lake County Council is discussing the Public Well being Order issued by Dr. Angela Dunn and Mayor (Jenny) Wilson’s administration,” Stringham stated in an announcement issued Friday night. “Contemplating the unfold and urgency of the omicron variant of COVID-19, this subject shall be a prime precedence for the Salt Lake County Council.”
The Summit County masks mandate had the help of the Summit County Council, well being division officers there stated.
Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton, a Republican, stated in a sequence of tweets she has instructed Dunn she’ll help a countywide masks mandate.
“I'm not one who usually helps authorities mandates, however the knowledge is obvious that we've got some tough instances within the coming weeks. I consider that is essential to ship a message that decreased social contact is crucial in order that we don't overwhelm our hospitals and might preserve colleges and companies open,” she tweeted.
The omicron variant is extremely contagious, and though masks don’t work in addition to they did with earlier variants, I nonetheless consider we have to do all we will to gradual the unfold so our employees don’t all get sick on the similar time. (2/)
— Aimee Winder Newton (@AWinderNewton) January 7, 2022
Final August, the GOP-controlled County Council voted to cease an order by Dunn that masks be worn in Salt Lake County colleges, citing guardian opposition. When Dunn addressed the council Tuesday concerning the pandemic, she didn't convey up a masks mandate, telling a reporter there was “no indication” the council can be receptive.
What’s modified, Dunn stated Friday, are will increase in COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations, whereas on the similar time, extra important staff are being felled by the virus and are unable to work. “For me,” she stated, “it’s purely a well being resolution.”
Vaccinated, boosted and masked? Then you definitely ‘can go about your every day life’
Salt Lake County’s order received’t be prolonged past 30 days, Dunn stated, time that shall be used to give attention to getting residents vaccinated, particularly in West Valley Metropolis, Riverton and Herriman, cities which have greater hospitalization charges attributable to low vaccination charges,
For residents who've gotten each the preliminary doses in addition to the booster shot seen as offering probably the most safety towards extreme sickness from omicron, Dunn’s recommendation is to “simply placed on a masks and go about your every day life,” so long as the masks is well-fitting and prime quality, like a KN95.
She stated county libraries, senior facilities, colleges and neighborhood primarily based organizations shall be distributing acceptable masks. For many who solely have fabric face coverings, Dunn stated they might need to double masks and guarantee they match carefully.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, a Democrat, backed the masks mandate in an announcement, saying she “deeply” appreciates Dunn’s experience.
“I settle for her suggestion for a 30-day countywide masks requirement in Salt Lake County. The Omicron variant has unfold quickly. Simply two weeks in the past, we have been at 500 circumstances a day in Salt Lake County. At this time we sit at over 4,600 per day. We acknowledge the sense of urgency in our neighborhood as hospitals are threatened,” she stated.
“We have to make the most of each instrument obtainable to gradual the unfold and high-quality masks worn indoors in public areas are a confirmed measure. Our county is open, we're operating enterprise as common. This can be a momentary step that's essential to get us by means of this subsequent section of COVID,” the Salt Lake County mayor stated.
Mendenhall despatched letters to county officers that have been launched to the information media Friday, warning that “circumstances are exploding in Utah and well being specialists warn that we've got but to see the height from the Omicron surge.”
At this time I despatched letters to County leaders imploring them to enact a countywide masks requirement for the following a number of weeks. With circumstances exploding, we have to do all the things we will to guard residents, significantly the susceptible and our heroic medical workers https://t.co/f5DWWaMBaM
— Mayor Erin Mendenhall (@slcmayor) January 7, 2022
“A countywide requirement will do considerably extra to guard our constituents than a masks requirement in Salt Lake Metropolis alone, each in lowering neighborhood transmission through the extremely contagious Omicron wave, and in defending the heroic medical workers at our overwhelmed hospitals,” the Salt Lake Metropolis mayor stated.
Utah hard-hit by omicron
Hospitals are already lowering mattress house and suspending surgical procedures attributable to staffing shortages, as a whole lot of staff are house sick with COVID-19. Some well being care employees have reportedly stopped displaying up for work due to the pressure of coping with unprecedented numbers of coronavirus sufferers.
Utah can also be rationing remedies for the virus, as a result of monoclonal antibodies and the brand new antiviral capsules are briefly provide nationwide. Medical doctors have stated there’s solely sufficient to deal with 1 in 100 sufferers, warning anybody who selected to not be vaccinated and is counting on being handled in the event that they catch COVID-19 to rethink that technique.
Entry to the state’s COVID-19 testing websites which have struggled to maintain up with the demand is altering, the state well being division introduced Friday. Now, appointments shall be required for checks on the Cannon Well being Constructing in Salt Lake Metropolis, Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, and websites in Bountiful and West Jordan.
Folks should arrive one hour previous to closing time in any respect websites, and be ready for a wait that would last as long as 4 hours. State-run websites will now not present testing wanted to attend occasions, or for individuals who want common testing for his or her work.