The Wayne & Garfield County Insider April 23, 2020

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The

Insider

Serving Wayne & Garfield Counties, Utah

Loa • Fremont • Lyman • Bicknell • Teasdale • Torrey • Grover • Fruita • Caineville • Hanksville Panguitch • Panguitch Lake • Hatch • Antimony • Bryce • Tropic • Henrieville • Cannonville • Escalante • Boulder

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Central Utah Public Health Department Confirmed First COVID-19 Cases in Sevier County RICHFIELD - The Central Utah Public Health Department (CUPHD) has confirmed the first two positive cases of COVID-19 in Sevier County. These are the seventh and eighth confirmed cases in the Central Utah Health District. Both cases are between the ages of 25-45, and are currently recovering at their home in Sevier County. These cases were contracted from exposure to an individual from outside the district who later was confirmed to have COVID-19. “These positive cases followed all of the proper procedures in notifying the Health Department and their medical provider early on, and then self-quarantining. This significantly reduced potential exposures to other individuals in the community,” said Nate Selin, CUPHD’s Health Officer. Close contacts of the confirmed cases have been contacted, are under selfquarantine and being actively monitored for symptoms. CUPHD Update Cont'd on page 4

Issue # 1356

What's Next in Managing COVID-19: Testing, Testing, Testing…

Courtesy Intermountain Healthcare

Caregivers from the Intermountain Medical Group conduct COVID-19 curbside testing in Provo, Utah. WAY N E / G A R F I E L D COUNTIES - This past week, Utah reported six straight days of deaths from COVID-19, bringing the state’s total number of deaths to twenty-seven. The past week also saw an increase in the number of individuals in Utah being tested for coronavirus. As expected with an increase in tests, an increase in the number of positive cases has been reported. “These numbers are always a few days behind,” said David Heaton, Public

Op-Ed

Victory for Utah Voters

by Marsha Holland UTAH - A federal com- ated candidate when voting. The asterisk and balplaint on unfair ballot language applied to unaffiliated lot language was brought to state candidates was settled the attention of Lt. Governor out of court with the signing Cox’s Office, who manages of Senate Bill (SB) 28, Elec- voting in the State of Utah, tion Law Revisions. As one- asking for clarification since third of active voters in Utah dozens of unaffiliated candiare registered as Unaffiliated dates and write-in candidates (voteinfo.utah.gov 2019), did not have similar language this marks a substantial appearing next to their name win for all future indepen- on the ballot in 2018. The redent candidates in the state. sponse from Lt. Governor’s The repeal of single-mark, Deputy Director of Elections, Straight Ticket Voting was Derek Benchley indicated that also accomplished with the the state statute 20A-6-301(1) passage of House Bill (HB) (d), although an “ambiguous 70 after a multi-year effort. law” which “may be confusBoth bills were signed into ing, clearly applies to unaflaw in late March 2020 by filiated candidates (of certain Utah Governor Gary Herbert. offices), directly referencing The Unfettered Candi- them in the statute.” The right to run for pubdate In 2016, the Utah State lic office, participate and afLegislature passed an elec- filiate in the political process tion law that required an as- without being disadvantaged terisk (*) and the following by state legislation or ballot language, “This candidate language is guaranteed by the is not affiliated with or does Equal Protection Clause of not qualify to be listed on the the 14th Amendment of the ballot as affiliated with a po- United States Constitution. litical party” placed along an Yet ballot access laws across unaffiliated candidate’s name the country exclude third for certain public offices. party candidates according The asterisk and disqualify- the Maayan Schoen, writing ing language were confus- recently for Yale’s political ing, stigmatizing and clearly meant to dissuade voters Victory from considering an unaffiliCont'd on page 7

REGIONAL WEATHER FORECAST FOR SOME BUT NOT ALL REGIONS REPRESENTED IN OUR NEWSPAPER COVERAGE AREA

THURS. APRIL 23 - WED. APRIL 29

Sunny and warm, with little to no chance of precipitation. Highs trend upward towards the high 70s; lows in the 30s. Winds variable from 10 to 15 mph. Humidity trends downward from 48% to 28% into next week.

Information officer with the Southwest Utah Public Health Department. “As of April 14, we received a report from the state that 2,844 tests have been performed. And they’re showing a 5% positive rate.” Also as of Monday’s available figures, positive cases had increased by over 120 per day, over the course of five days. Utah’s Southwest region has reported sixty-six COVID-19 cases, with nine hospitalizations and one death. “About half are travel re-

lated and half are community spread,” said Heaton. Heaton noted that the Southwest region has also discovered asymptomatic cases. He said that in the case of one couple, who had traveled out of the country, “One was ill and tested positive, and the other was asymptomatic and also tested positive.” Meanwhile, both Garfield and Wayne counties remain—at this moment—clear Testing

Cont'd on page 6

Garfield County Commission April 13 GARFIELD COUNTY A short Commission meeting with a quorum of two commissioners took place April 13. Commissioner Jerry Taylor’s Board Report consisted primarily of his actions with the Tri-County Economic Recovery Task Force. The group is holding weekly online Zoom meetings. (Notice of the Zoom sessions comes via its Facebook group, which requires members subscribe to the group. There are currently 174 members on the tri-county group.) Taylor said the focus of the group is to provide answers and assist business owners with their applications for various grant and loan programs available now. Economic Development Director Kaden Figgins said he can’t answer questions about the status of business’s applications, but he can help point people toward the right resources to contact for various issues. As of the meeting, Commissioner David Tebbs said he hadn’t heard of anyone in the county yet receiving their additional $600 of unemployment benefits, but he believed those would start coming out soon. Commissioner Tebbs reported a sense of relief throughout the county on the

decision to close Bryce Canyon National Park. He said the decision calmed the fears of many of our locals and “has made a huge difference in visitation in the county,” including the closure of the better-known recreation areas in the county. He noted a three-week lag time reported by many businesses and individuals filing for benefits versus the previous normal lag of a single week. Finally, he said many of his meetings had been cancelled, but the ones that did convene did so through online Zoom. Among them, he said the municipal Fire Chiefs and the county’s mayors may actually benefit from meeting online, especially those from Ticaboo and Boulder. Public works, Brian Bremner, reported on the $90K chip sealing job scheduled for Hatch later this season. He said the county does the work, then bills the town for the chips and oil. Hatch has $60K to pay upfront and will pay $10K/year over the next three years for the balance. Commissioner Taylor suggested stockpiling some oil now while prices are down. The Commission approved the Hatch project. Garfield Commission Cont'd on page 3

Will Utah Online Legislative Session Limit Transparency?

Op-Ed A New World —Part 2

by Bonnie Mangold WAYNE COUNTY Last week’s article promised to present a potential scenario for the future, based on the assumptions that the crisis has abated, we have developed strategies for future bouts with lethal viruses, and most of us are still alive. What might our new world look like—eventually? Throughout the world, food supply is a long-term, on-going issue, needing longterm answers. Hoarding has not proved to be the answer, nor has been anything. Rural areas like ours have been fortunate in having the capacity to be self-sufficient to a greater degree than the cities, and we determined to do it. We were not so far removed from the time and the skills where community self-sufficiency was a given. We have relearned the skills of growing and raising our own food, while simultaneously making greater use of modern communication technology and acquiring the skills to use that. We keep in touch with others, learn from others, improve efficiency and nutritive value of small scale food production. Community self-suffiNew World

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Insider

When the Utah Legislature met, the State Capitol was mostly empty, as lawmakers in the House and Senate participate in the special session remotely, online. SALT LAKE CITY Utah lawmakers opened their special session last week, but there's a wrinkle: All their meetings will be in cyberspace. As they deal with issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state Legislature will be one of the first U.S. public bodies to officially meet and consider legislation

• • • •

via the internet. However, government accountability watchdogs are concerned that the digital process could be used to limit transparency. Lauren Simpson, Alliance for a Better Utah policy director, said she worries that public comments submitted on bills up for consideration may not be available for public viewing.

"It is important that we don't give up on public comment just because it may not be as expedient as some lawmakers might want it," she said. The 10-day session opened Thursday, April 16. Issues they're expected to Legislative Session Cont'd on page 3

COVID-19 Community Resources

Utah Coronavirus Information Line: 1-800-456-7707. State of Utah COVID-19 Updates: https://coronavirus.utah.gov/ Garfield County Email Hotline: COVID19@garfield.utah.gov Wayne Community Health Center in Bicknell: (435) 425-3744

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. —John Muir

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