Utah is in the middle of yet another surge in COVID-19 cases. The rising case rates have members of the Park City Council wanting to explore any action available to them in order to help stop the spread.
At Thursday’s city council meeting, councilors agreed to hold a special public meeting next week on the issue in order to get public feedback and determine a path forward. City meetings have recently moved back to an all-virtual format, and next week’s meeting will be held on Zoom and Facebook Live.
Councilor Steve Joyce voiced concern on Thursday for how little has been done over the past few months as the highly contagious Delta variant of the disease continues to spread throughout the state.
“I’m kind of getting frustrated at what I think is a lack of recognition of the changes that are going on,” said Joyce. “We’ve had three straight months of incremental climb without a day of exception, really, of just incidence growth. Our numbers are bad. By all measures we should be taking big action, and honestly, we’re doing nothing, really, and it’s beginning to worry me. And I’m kind of beginning to question whether we as a council should maybe try taking more of a leadership role within Park City.”
The Utah State Legislature passed what was dubbed the “pandemic endgame” bill in March, effectively stripping the ability to enact mask mandates or other health measures away from cities and giving limited powers to counties.
It is unclear what Park City can actually do by way of health orders or emergency declarations, and councilors indicated a need to consult with the city’s legal department before taking any action.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall used her emergency powers to require masks in the city’s K-12 schools in late August, and Summit County issued a health order soon after establishing COVID-19 thresholds that would trigger a mask mandate in the county’s seven elementary schools.
Councilor Becca Gerber told KPCW she agrees with Joyce and believes the city should at least explore what its options are going forward.
“We have had a great partnership with the county, we’ve really worked very closely with the health department for the past year and a half trying to weave our way through this very complicated COVID situation,” Gerber said. “I think as Max [Doilney] mentioned, some things have changed at the state level and it has made it harder for our county and our health department to take action, and I think everybody is kind of trying to figure out the best way to work through this legally and what we can do.”
Gerber also pointed to the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020 when Park City was a national hotspot and action taken at the local level was copied across the state. She said she hopes that could be the case again.
“Sometimes you just need that one domino to fall, that one big push,” she said. “If we can help be that big push and take some action right now, we would like to do that.”
The date of next week’s special meeting will be announced in the coming days. Councilors did point toward Wednesday, September 8th as a likely date.
