Governor Extends Health Risk Status As Attorneys Announce Lawsuit Against State

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Gov. Gary Herbert on Friday issued an executive order that moved two areas in Utah from orange to yellow and one county to green.

The rest of the state, though, will stay in the yellow, or low-risk phase, through June 26, according to the order.

“In close consultation with local health authorities and with the Utah Department of Health, Gov. Gary R. Herbert has issued an Executive Order moving Kane County to the New Normal Health Risk Status, or Green as well as Bluff and Mexican Hat to the Low Health Risk Status, or Yellow,” according to a statement from the governor’s office. “Salt Lake City will remain in Orange. Along with these changes the Governor has adopted updated guidelines for areas in the Low and New Normal health risk designation.”

Kane County is the only area in Utah now in the green phase.

The executive order came just before the announcement of a forthcoming class-action lawsuit against Herbert and Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox on behalf of Utah businesses “devastated by their decisions to shut down many of the state’s small businesses,” according to a statement from attorneys Garret Smith and Neil Skousen.

The lawsuit will be filed later in June, according to the statement, and it alleges that the state’s health policies “devastated tens of thousands of Utah businesses.”

“Lt. Gov. Cox’s own health committee recommended two weeks ago to move into the ‘green’ phase of businesses fully re-opened, but Cox actually chose to stay in the ‘yellow’ zone regardless of the recommendation of his own committee,” said Kerby Barker, owner of Epic Party Events. “This has caused catastrophic harm to my business, and I wonder if these government bureaucrats understand the stress and damage they inflict on Utah families who own businesses, or work for them.”