Governor Little announced this morning that Idaho will be staying in stage four of Idaho Rebounds for another two weeks. The Governor will be traveling to four different health districts over the course of the day.
Idaho did not meet the criteria to leave stage four for the third time, according to data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
"We are not where we want to be with our coronavirus situation in Idaho," said Gov. Little. "We have many things in place to get us where we need to be. We've increased testing, contact tracing, the availability of PPE for healthcare workers, businesses and schools, but the one thing that will dramatically slow the spread of coronavirus is for every single one of us to wear a mask."
Little said the state will move forward with a localized approach for the coronavirus mitigation response. Dr. Christine Hahn says they have seen an increase in emergency department visits for COVID-like illness, which is a metric for advancing past stage four.
Ada County has been in a modified stage three of reopening since the end of June. Central District Health issued a mandatory mask order on July 14.
Southwest District Health approved a motion that recommends face coverings in public, but no mandate was passed. The meeting was held in the Canyon Courthouse after the previous two meetings were canceled.
The board "recommends" wearing masks (no mandate), crowd boos and someone yelled "I hope you all get voted out!" https://t.co/1Er1ducpsA
— Karen Lehr (@KarenLehr) July 23, 2020
