BOISE, Idaho — Who wants to wear face masks to the bar or sit six feet from a close friend? Our guess, not you.
But as Idaho entered the fourth and final step for re-opening, the State’s health officials stress the importance of protecting the community’s most vulnerable people by practicing “social responsibility.”
While Idaho hasn’t had a significant surge in Coronavirus cases compared to other states, the number of confirmed or probable cases haven’t dropped significantly. In fact, on June 15th, the number of new or likely cases reached 54, and that was before Stage 4 went into effect.
Idaho’s health manager, Elke Shaw-Tulloch tells Idaho News 6, “everything that we see today is a result of actions and people’s behaviors that occurred a few weeks prior” and unfortunately, Brandon Atkins with Central District Health adds, “we anticipated that we were going to see an uptick in cases and part of those restrictions that were late coming or some of the more social environments.”
We asked Atkins, “how can people socialize responsibly?” He says, “you need to be wearing face coverings when you’re out in public you still need to be social distancing appropriately you need to be mindful about how much time you’re spending in a small enclosed space.”
This new normal and social responsibility may make your social gatherings feel “awkward” but remember it’s your responsibility pandemic or not to keep your germs to yourself.
On June 15th, the State of Idaho reported having 3,462 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19.
