Summit County officials are crafting a new Public Health Order, to be unveiled by the end of this week, that will aim to gradually and carefully reopen activity in the county after the COVID-19 lockdown.
Members of the County Health Board, meeting Monday, heard that the new directive will lift the Stay At Home order. But they’re still advising the public to follow other restrictions, like social distancing.
The new Order would mean that the county moves from the Red Phase of its Covid-19 response—that is, Urgent action—to the Orange Phase of Stabilization.
County Environmental Director Phil Bondurant said they want to “dip their toe” in terms of re-opening business and activities. They will measure the medical data and by May 15th, they will decide whether to continue further with Stabilization, or reverse course.
Representatives for designated sectors of the local economy were scheduled to submit proposals by Monday. On Tuesday, they will be submitted to Deputy County Attorney Dave Thomas to be incorporated into the draft of a new Health Order.
The Order will be submitted to County Council on Wednesday for a discussion. On Thursday, the Council will review the Order with local mayors. If approved, the order will take effect on Friday. County Council Member Kim Carson said it would likely take effect at the stroke of midnight on May 2nd.
The details haven’t been finalized yet, but Health Director Rich Bullough said it is following the directives of Governor Gary Herbert’s program, “Utah Leads Together 2.0”
“If you look at 2.0, and you look at the—currently we’re in Red, the Urgent Phase—if you look at Orange, there are some specific guidelines on gathering size, still recommendations on social distancing, recommendations on masks. All of those things we’ve been talking about that are in place will remain in place. What is being lifted is the Stay at Home Order, which does ease restrictions on inter-county travel, those sorts of things.”
On some specific questions, Bullough said state parks in the county will likely be opened under the order. He said libraries won’t be, because sanitizing books is a difficult process.
He said that the community and local business stepped up and helped to flatten the growth of COVID-19 cases.
He said he could count on one hand the number of businesses that resisted the lockdown ordered in March by the Health Department.
“Violations that we’ve seen with our existing Order among businesses—most of those have been reported by other businesses. They know there’s a lot at stake for them, and so they’re watching each other. And it’s important for the community to know that they need to be watching these businesses as well. And we’re gonna ramp up—we’ve got a Complaint Line and we also still have the Hot Line. We’re gonna be ramping up those services so that we can be on top of complaints as they come in.”
If the re-opening leads to an increase in coronavirus cases, the county could rebound from Orange back to Red. Bullough admitted that, in fact, his department and staff would be strained if they went through too many back-and-forth cycles.
“Just to be really honest, we don’t have the bandwidth and capacity to go through multiple cycles. And so it is important that we do this right. This is exhausting. And if we ease and then have to put in new restrictions and then do a bunch of contact tracing and case investigation, and then we ease again. We’re gonna see multiple cycles of this regardless because of the seasonal variation, and the expected surge in the fall and winter. So we need to prepare for that, and we can’t destroy ourselves in the process of making mistakes right now.”
Kim Carson said that even if the county goes to Orange status, it still won’t be Business as Usual for residents.
“It means you should be wearing a mask when you’re out in public. You should be doing your hand-washing constantly. Keep hand sanitizer with you. Really only go out—I mean, I hope that our restaurants and stores do get some business. But be practical, and don’t go out on a shopping spree just because you can. And watch groups gathering.”
Summit County Council Member Kim Carson.
