Governor to issue mandatory mask mandate among other executive orders
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert declared a state of emergency Sunday evening. The announcement came following Utah’s worst week of the COVID-19 pandemic so far.
Herbert said the emergency was being declared to address hospital overcrowding and protect intensive care unit capacity.
Addressing Utahns from his office, Herbert said he had four critical announcements. The announcements involved mask mandates, social gatherings, most sporting events and target testing.
“I am placing the entire state of Utah under a mask mandate until further notice,” he said.
Businesses will require employees to wear masks and post signage encouraging patrons to do the same. Anyone who fails to comply will be fined by the Labor Commission.
“Masks do not negatively affect our economy and wearing them is the easiest way to slow the spread of the virus,” he added.
According to Herbert, requiring someone to wear a mask is no different than asking someone to obey traffic laws or wear a seatbelt.
When it comes to social gatherings, Utahns may not participate in or host social gatherings with individuals other than those in their immediate household for the next two weeks.
Anyone who sponsors or holds large events and gatherings will be prosecuted and subject to a fine of $10,000 per occurrence.
For the next two weeks, all sports and after school activities are cancelled, with the exception of high-school championship games and intercollegiate sports.
“Our date shows that individuals 18 to 24 have not been careful in their casual social gatherings and that the highest rates of the spread are now occurring among this age group,” Herbert said.
Because intercollegiate sports are already required to test their players, they will be allowed to continue their sporting events.
Herbert also said that testing operations will expand.
In addition to testing people who have symptoms, they will do target testing for those who do not have symptoms. This will include weekly tests for college students, high-school students who participate in extracurricular activities, high-school teachers and people in the workplace under 35.
“Our hospitals in Utah are among the best in the world, but they cannot give the best care when hospitals are at capacity and medical professionals are exhausted and spread too thin,” Herbert said.
“In our war against COVID-19, we need our doctors and our nurses,” he added.
Herbert also said Utahns must do their part to keep infections low until a new vaccine is available.
“This is about so much more than just mandates, this is about personal responsibility. I ask you now and I implore you to do everything in your power to stop the spread of the disease.”
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