SL County Council sets Thursday meeting to vote on mask order

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County’s Council published its agenda for a Thursday meeting to consider terminating the health order that requires masking in public, indoor locations.

The council is required to give 24-hour public notice of meetings and during its previously scheduled meeting Tuesday, the discussion was raised by a motion, though not declared an emergency action that could have moved the possible veto of a health order an immediate vote.

The only discussion item for the Thursday meeting is:

A Resolution of the Salt Lake County Council Terminating an Order of Constraint Issued by the Salt Lake County Health Department On or About January 7, 2022 in Response to a Declared Public Health Emergency

The meeting agenda says that members of the public may attend the council’s meetings in person on a limited basis but said that consistent with the public health order being discussed, individuals must wear a mask inside public places. That rule was not enforced during Tuesday’s meeting where many members of the public expressed opinions about masking. The order, given last week by Salt Lake County Health Department Executive Director Dr. Angela Dunn, can be found here: slco.org/globalassets/1-site-files/health/programs/covid/pho/2022-01.pdf

It is believed at least one member of the council has COVID-19 and will participate electronically rather than in person. The agenda specifies that members of the council may participate electronically.

The county is experiencing a massive spike in COVID-19 infections with hospitals, schools, restaurants and testing locations overwhelmed at times. Tuesday was a record-breaking day with COVID-19 test-confirmed cases. Monday collected weekend data but the previous days leading to the weekend each raised the recorded number of cases in Utah. Numbers for Wednesday have not been reported by the Utah Department of Health at press time.

The omicron variant, that seems to be causing much of the spike, is considered to be less deadly than other variants. Hospitalizations and deaths are a lagging statistic to infections. So far, 3,922 Utahns have been killed by the virus, 1,373 of those in Salt Lake County. Utah County has the next most deaths with 671. Minority populations have had worse outcomes for the virus.

Vaccinations and boosters to vaccinations remain widely available in Utah and are urged by health leaders, medical officials and the state’s Gov. Spencer Cox. You can sign up for a vaccine at https://coronavirus.utah.gov/vaccine/#sign-up

The health order that does apply to school children, but with an exemption activated with a parent’s request. The state and county does not enforce any health order and hasn’t been known to at any point since COVID-19 first hit Utah in March 2020.