TriCounty Health Officer Jordan Mathis provided a COVID-19 update on Wednesday during the Give’m Health segment on Eagle Country 105.5 FM KLCY. Mathis explained that the Commission that advises the Governor met on Tuesday and voted unanimously to recommend that the state be moved from the Yellow “low-risk” phase to the Green “new normal-risk” phase. Mathis emphasized that this does not mean the state will move to Green, just that they are making that recommendation to the Governor who gets to decide. So what would it mean if the state moved to the Green phase? Mathis says that there is a misunderstanding that as the state changes colors then the risk of COVID-19 has gone down and that’s not true. In fact, there were spikes across the state after the state moved from Orange to Yellow. The Commission’s decision to recommend the move to Green was because even with the spikes in new activity, they were not seeing spikes in hospitalizations. Moving to Green would mean government regulations take a backseat and responsibility shifts to the individual level. Mathis made the comparison that it is like the risk we all assume when we get into our vehicles. It is a personal choice to wear a seatbelt and drive the speed limit. The responsibility lies with each individual to continue practicing good hygiene and continuing to wear a face covering in public to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in the community. Mathis does not anticipate the recommendation to wear face coverings in public will change until there is a vaccine or until transmission rates just plummet. Stay up to date on COVID-19 at www.tricountyhealth.com and www.coronavirus.utah.gov.
