Cache Valley officials urge public to wear masks or stay home

By Sydney Kidd

Health officials in Cache Valley have a message to people who don't want to wear cloth masks in public: Listen to the CDC.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its COVID-19 safety protocols to recommend people wear “cloth face coverings” when going to public places like the grocery store or pharmacy, where it can be difficult to maintain social distancing rules.

How has that advice gone down in Northern Utah? A quick trip to a Logan grocery store will answer that question: Many people are clearly less than enthusiastic about adhering to the new guidelines.

“I think if it makes you feel better, then do it,” Utah State University student Kaden Anderson said. “But if the CDC says it doesn’t stop you from getting it, what's the point?”

Bear River Health Department spokesperson Holly Budge said the guidelines aren’t meant to protect the person wearing the cloth face covering, but the people they are surrounded by. She noted that people who have coronavirus can be asymptomatic and not even know they are infecting others.

“What we have to remember with coronavirus is we're not just doing this to protect ourselves,” Budge said. “We're doing it to protect others.” 

Budge said people who don’t want to cover their faces in public simply shouldn’t go out at all.

“Please just stay at home,” she said.

Logan Regional Hospital spokesperson Sarah Fitzgerald said that an asymptomatic person with COVID-19 who ignores the CDC guidelines could put high-risk individuals in danger.

“For the safety of those around you, you should take it seriously,” Fitzgerald said, “and realize that if somebody else gets sick that's of an older population with the underlying health issues as well, it's very serious for them to get this sickness and can potentially lead to death.”

Healthcare workers are also at risk. That was further evidenced today by the announcement of a new COVID-19 cluster affecting healthcare workers in Hawaiʻi.

“It's not fair,” said Foeata Baclayon, who works as a nurse in Hawaiʻi, noting that just one non-compliant person in a community can cause a ripple effect. “We're the front lines here. We're taking care of patients who do have COVID-19, so we're working really hard. The hospitals are not equipped to handle the whole world… so, when you have the public really not caring about it, it directly affects health care.”