Mask mandate repealed after six months in Bonneville County

The region’s health board lifted Bonneville County’s mask mandate Monday night.

BARCELONA SEVILLA

BARCELONA SEVILLA

BARCELONA SEVILLA

BARCELONA SEVILLA

BARCELONA SEVILLA

The move marks the end of a widely unenforced set of restrictions that has been in place since last summer. Local health officials still encourage people to wear masks, avoid gatherings and stay home to decrease transmission risk.

Officials say mask-wearing has limited virus spread in nearby schools. School boards will meet this week to discuss mask policies.

Lifting Bonneville’s mandate was the Eastern Idaho Public Health board’s sixth attempt this year to rescind county-level mandates while infection rates fall and hospital capacity grows. In total, five mandates were repealed — leaving restrictions from the health board to only apply in Madison and Teton counties, whose mandates will likely remain in place for at least several weeks.

What’s next for local restrictions?

The vote said restrictions would only be lifted if cases remained low Monday night, when the county had reached two weeks straight with less than 15 active cases per 10,000 people. That’s how the health board’s plan says it should lift restrictions.

Counties that have an active case rate of 15 or higher for three consecutive days should see mask mandates and event restrictions, according to the regional health board’s plan.

Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce CEO Chip Schwarze said business owners were mixed on lifting local restrictions. Many businesses said mandates and concern about transmission reduced business, but he said some businesses saw continued growth.

Regardless, he said, mask mandates protected community health and, by extension, the health of local businesses.

Without a mandate, the business group worries that “Idahoans will drop their guard, assume that the risk of transmission is gone, and abandon the safe practices we have been using to keep our economy open and growing,” Schwarze wrote in a text message to a Post Register reporter. He said businesses should keep their employees safe through mask requirements for “employees and guests regardless of local government orders” to avoid potential fines for workplace safety violations.

City to vote on ending event prosecution plan Idaho Falls police spokeswoman Jessica Clements said she wasn’t aware of any instances of city police enforcing the county-level mandate. Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Bryan Lovell said he doesn’t believe deputies issued any citations for the order. Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor that carries up to $300 in fines and up to six months in jail. At one point, Idaho Falls City Council floated the idea of a mask mandate. The July 9 meeting drew protestors, including some who carried rifles. City mandate talks faded.

The health district’s board unanimously approved a mask mandate July 21 for Bonneville County, making it the second of eight eastern Idaho counties to see mask mandates over the coming months, as case spikes took hold, abated and ramped up yet again in the fall. Late last year, the city created plans to prosecute event organizers who violated state-level restrictions from Gov. Brad Little. The governor’s order then banned gatherings of more than 10 people but now caps events at 50 people, a move Little made last week. City spokesman Bud Cranor said Monday he was not aware of any instances of prosecutions tied to Idaho Falls’ resolution. The city is organizing plans to repeal that resolution at a Tuesday morning work session, according to a meeting agenda.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Jeppesen have complained that Idaho was not getting as many doses, compared to its population, as other states. The big reason, they say, is that the federal government is doling out doses based on the number of adults in each state. Idaho has one of the nation's highest proportion of children.

Vaccines aren't yet approved for them. Idaho's leaders have also suggested that Census estimates for Idaho, which is rapidly growing in population, may not reflect reality. Jeppesen reiterated that claim Tuesday. Idaho has made multiple moves lately in hopes of boosting transparency, including by publishing a detailed public data system that allows people to see how many vaccine doses providers near them have given out and where shots are sitting in freezers. The data stems from an executive order Little issued Jan. 28. Providers have 72 hours to tell the state when they give out shots, which may delay some reporting.

School boards to meet soon

Both Idaho Falls School District 91 and Bonneville Joint School District 93 have school board meetings later this week where mask policies will be discussed. The current school reopening plans for both districts say face masks will be encouraged even when the countywide order is repealed.

Idaho Falls loosened its quarantine policy in January. Now, students who are in close contact with someone at school that tested positive for COVID-19 could avoid quarantining if both were correctly wearing masks. Previously, all exposed students had to quarantine for at least a week.

”Our goal is to keep schools open and students in-person. It’s great to see the numbers going down, but we want to see them stay even lower by following the health district guidance,” District 91 spokeswoman Margaret Wimborne said Monday.