At the Monday special meeting of the Wasatch County Council, the council heard from the sheriff.
Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby spoke to the council about a portion of the Stay at Home order as it relates to outdoor recreation.
“Individuals that live here are welcome to go outside their home and as it says in other places, for leisurely drives, and that kind of thing,” Rigby explained. “Still pay close attention to the personal distancing. But we need to be careful when it comes to those that are visitors, and coming from outside the County to come here. Really the rule that needs to be followed is that those visitors may not come and recreate in Wasatch County.”
Rigby also says the sheriff’s department will be making some changes at the Wasatch County Jail. Rigby says ordinarily they have around 100 incarcerated individuals in the jail.
"The command staff that we have is working on that,” Rigby continued “We’ll probably have some statements and updates that we can probably give tomorrow, but there are a number of things that we're doing at that level. Because those that are incarcerated can really be in a similar situation as those that are in assisted living centers and other kind of vulnerable populations.”
Finally, Rigby asked that people be specific in their language when describing the Stay at Home order. He says he’s heard people use shelter in place to define the situation, that is not correct usage as shelter in place is usually related to remaining in place during natural disasters such as earthquakes or fires. Lockdowns are often related to specific threats directed at a building such as a school, finally Martial Law relates to military involvement of enforcing orders, such as a curfew which is not in place in Wasatch County.
“I really do feel like ‘Stay at Home’ is the best message that all the different agencies could focus on, and as far as elected officials, that we could also help in supporting the Health Department if we use all those terms and language,” Rigby said.
The entire Wasatch County Stay at Home order can be viewed here.
