Wasatch County's 'Stay at Home' order goes into effect Wednesday morning. And the county's information hotline is getting lots of calls--mostly from businesses.
The highest number of calls are coming from the construction industry according to Wasatch County Health Department Public Information Officer Jonelle Fitzgerald.
“We have recognized construction as an essential business," Fitzgerald explained. "We are reminding people that they need to continue to have that personal distance and not have contact with other people. So, within those industries we still want to have people maintaining distance, continuing to sanitize surfaces, not ride together in vehicles, not use common tools, sanitize when someone does touch something. Just some things to do to stay safe when you are working in an essential service.”
Fitzgerald says they’ve also received quite a few calls from beauticians and salons, those businesses have not been recognized as an essential service, in part because they require close physical contact. Regardless of industry, the department of health says if you’re sick stay home.
Fitzgerald says the order does not spell out an answer to every single question a business could have, but the overarching goal is to have people stay away from others to avoid the spread of the virus.
“Hopefully the order itself can help a person recognize what their business is or where it fits," Fitzgerald continued. "Is it essential? If it’s not essential are there some minimal functions that need to continue but could do so in a safe way? Security of the place, or maintenance or providing salary for other workers. Something that can happen independently without contact with others and that's the minimum operations, that are allowed.”
Of course, businesses and individuals that do have questions about the order can call the Health Department. They ask that people please read the order before calling 435-657-3276.
“Wasatch County officials just want to protect people," Fitzgerald said. "We want as many people to work possible, but we need everybody to stay safe. Take whatever precautions you need to keep yourself safe. Hopefully this won't last a long time, it will go for these two weeks and then reevaluate, but we're really hopeful that we can get on top of this and really slow the spread of COVID-19.”
While those calling have mostly been business owners with clarifying questions, Fitzgerald says they have received calls from people wondering how they can sign up for the county’s emergency alert system. You can find a link to that signup here and the stay at home order at the top of this article.
