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Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said Monday that she is considering extending her county’s stay-at-home order through “perhaps Memorial Day or longer.”
The current order expires in a week on April 13, and took effect April 3.
“I think it’s safe to say that everyone is recognizing — and we are seeing in our models — the virus peaking in late April. Some hospitals and others say it won’t peak until the first week of May,” the mayor said in an interview. “So, sadly, we’re really not in a position to open anything up on April 14.”
Wilson said she plans to extend the current order on Thursday or Friday, and officials are debating how long it should last.
“We could do a short order like two weeks, or we could go further perhaps to Memorial Day or longer. And then if things change and we can loosen up at some point along the way, we could just rescind,” she said.
Wilson adds that it probably is not wise to lift stay-at-home orders until well after a peak in infections is seen.
“What we’re trying to do is prevent a second spike,” she said. “When we open up, we want it to be permanently.”
She adds the community is far from that point, and likely will be for weeks or longer.
“We are going up the curve right now,” she said. And depending on the model, “We're going to see us peaking in a few weeks, maybe three to four at the latest.”
Wilson said that over time, data from testing may provide more certainty on when it is safe to lift the order and what the community impact may be once it happens.
One lesson learned in recent weeks — that even young and healthy people may become seriously ill or die — tends to make her especially cautious not to lift the order too soon.
“Initially, we thought this would really uniquely impact people with compromised immune systems and respiratory issues or the elderly,” she said.
Instead, “It’s random as to who is impacted and who is not. Until we get more certainty around that or until we have antibody testing, it’s really rough to just say, ‘Hey, we're not going to overwhelm hospitals now. Let's all go and take the risk.”
She said the stay-at-home orders seem to have slowed infections in her county and wishes — as she has called for — that Gov. Gary Herbert would issue stronger statewide orders.
“I feel like the work that we've done in Salt Lake County is paying off,” she said. “If every county moves that direction, we're going to get out of this quicker.”
Salt Lake County’s stay-at-home order forcibly closed more businesses, such as barbershops, salons and tattoo parlors, and directed all individuals to limit their trips outside to only “essential activities."
But unlike the voluntary provisions issued by the state, the county’s order makes compliance mandatory for residents. Violators can be charged with a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. However, the mayor said enforcement focuses on egregious infractions and most people will receive a warning first.
Salt Lake County’s order covers about 1.1 million residents. Other counties that have issued similar orders include Davis, Salt Lake, Summit, Tooele and Wasatch. The Weber-Morgan Health Department became the latest to issue an order on Friday.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/04/07/salt-lake-county-may/
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