Governor announces coronavirus alert level moving to yellow
ST. GEORGE — The state is reducing its recommended restriction level to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic to the low-risk yellow level for many parts of the state, including Southern Utah, starting Saturday.
Gov. Gary Herbert made the announcement during a press conference Thursday morning.
Wearing a yellow-gold tie in a similar fashion to the orange tie he wore on April 30 when announcing the move from the red to orange – or moderate risk – level, Herbert praised the efforts Utahns have made up until now, while expressing caution that moving to yellow doesn’t mean it is a total return to business as usual.
“Despite this change, we still need to be cautious. This is about personal responsibility. This is not an on-off switch. We are moving the dial incrementally,” Herbert said. “This is a chance for us to move forward. The proof will be in how we act. Will you wear a mask when you go grocery shopping? Will you practice social distancing?”
The change will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
Some areas of the state will remain at the orange level of recommended precautions, including Grand, Summit, Wasatch, Salt Lake and West Valley City counties.
However, the counties in Southern Utah will be moving into yellow, despite the sharp increase in cases over the last 14 days in Washington County and St. George specifically.
In Washington County, the amount of tests coming back positive has doubled and overall cases have gone up 36.4% in a week, the highest increase in the state.
However, local officials – including Washington County Commissioner Gil Almquist, St. George Mayor Jon Pike and the Southwest Utah Public Health Department – have lobbied the governor over the last two weeks to move the area to the lower risk category.
Retired Maj. Gen. Jefferson Burton, tapped by Herbert to run the daily operations of the Utah Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic, cited the concerns of local officials as a deciding factor toward moving Southern Utah to yellow.
“We looked at data points in consultation with local health officers. They’re the boots on the ground,” Burton said during the press conference. “All these decisions are data-driven, but we also weigh in on the decision of local health and elected officials. We strive to be as objective as we can be. … There is subjectivity involved, but we try to keep subjectivity to a minimum.”
The most immediate change will be that all businesses are permitted to open as long as they maintain 6 feet of distance between employees and patrons and have less than 51 people in a room.
This change will be especially critical for restaurants, as St. George Mayor Jon Pike cited the inability for restaurants to profitably open up with the 20-people-or-less rules of the orange level as a big reason to move to the lower risk level.
Other immediate changes include the following:
- All businesses, including government offices, can open if they practice social distancing and wear masks when social distancing isn’t feasible.
- The moratorium on evictions for renters expires on Friday.
- Stay-at-home measures only need to be practiced by high-risk individuals, those around them and those who have symptoms of COVID-19.
- Travel within the state is no longer discouraged.
- Team sports can resume.
- Public pools can reopen if social distancing is practiced.
- Schools will remain closed.
Herbert said that high-risk individuals – including those over 60 or with underlying health conditions – should remain on a red-level of risk recommendations for the time beginning, including staying at home and limiting interactions with the public as much as possible.
Dr. Michael Good, CEO of the University of Utah Health System, called the coronavirus a “bully” during the press conference.
“It finds and attacks at-risk individuals … older members of our community. Coronavirus finds and attacks high-risk individuals.”
This is a developing story.
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