Logan mask mandate approved by Gov. Herbert

Gov. Gary Herbert has approved a request from Logan Mayor Holly Daines to mandate the wearing of face coverings by residents and visitors.

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Department of Health has confirmed that Gov. Gary Herbert has approved a request from Logan Mayor Holly Daines to mandate the wearing of masks or face coverings by city residents and visitors.

Logan now joins a handful of other local entities in Utah that have made the wearing of face coverings in public mandatory. Those entities are Salt Lake City and three Utah counties: Grand, Salt Lake and Summit.

Despite a recent decline in coronavirus cases in the Bear River Health District, Herbert defended his decision on Daines’ request in a general way during the weekly press conference held Thursday by the state COVID-19 Task Force by calling mask wearing “good science and good sense.”

In a July 23 letter sent through the Bear River Health Department to Herbert, Daines said that a city mask mandate was a proactive step toward making local face covering guidelines consistent since both the Logan City School District and Utah State University had already adopted similar policies.

Daines also stressed that a proactive mask mandate is necessary because local health officials have confirmed that community spread of COVID-19 is an issue in the Bear River Health District.

Details of when and how the mask mandate will be implemented will be discussed at a city press conference set to 4 p.m. today.

In general terms, however, Daines has previously stated that the city’s mandate would require masks to be worn indoors in public places whenever contact with other individuals was likely and outdoors whenever social distancing cannot be maintained.

Daines has also pledged that the city has no plans to punitively enforce the mandate.

But mask wearing is no “silver bullet,” according to Dr. Benjamin Abbott of Brigham Young University.

At the state COVID-19 briefing on Thursday, Abbott called mask wearing an “essential tool” in the effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but added that social distancing, hand-washing and avoidance of public gatherings are equally important.

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27 Comments

  • One who knows July 30, 2020 at 1:36 pm Reply

    OK, so I will stay out of Logan for the foreseeable future.. the numbers do not support this panic. A mandate to wear Dumbo’s feather is just power hungry crazy talk.

    • TRD July 30, 2020 at 4:08 pm Reply

      Great traffic is already terrible

      • S July 30, 2020 at 5:16 pm Reply

        AMEN

    • S July 30, 2020 at 5:17 pm Reply

      Thank you, the more that think like you ,the
      Better

    • Bo July 31, 2020 at 11:42 am Reply

      Thanks, I’d rather not have idiots like you around anyway.

    • Bob August 3, 2020 at 9:18 pm Reply

      YES PLEASE STAY OUT WITH YOUR NASTY GERMS

  • Max July 30, 2020 at 1:39 pm Reply

    Still not going to wear a mask. Remember the office episode when Micheal CHOSE to go up on the roof, then CHOSE to come down, then claims he saved a life (his own)? This is the same ridiculous logic applied to those who CHOOSE to go to public places and then claim that their saving lives while everybody not wearing a random piece of fabric on their face is a murderer. I’ll wear a mask in a reasonable situation, but this is ridiculous. Especially because there are no specified criteria for which it is applied, it’s just like “Hey, let’s make everyone wear a mask cause of scary corona”.

    • S July 30, 2020 at 5:20 pm Reply

      Uhhhhhhh. Selfishness…. wilfully IGnOrant…DuMb….. Rediculous…comical…..the list goes on for you bud. Anyway those that have health concerns and older people would love to hug you and say THANKS…….it’s not about you , think outside of yourself.

    • J July 31, 2020 at 8:04 am Reply

      Maybe (maybe) they are mandating it because they have found that wearing a mask reduces transmission, and the rapidly increasing numbers in Utah mean that what we were doing wasn’t working. The science checks out, but willful ignorance? That is hard to control for. Please stay home if you won’t wear a mask.

  • Agytha Kristine July 30, 2020 at 3:09 pm Reply

    All the democratic states who have implemented these mandates have had the worst case fatality rates.

    Why is our conservative free agency small Logan City joining these poor ranks? A society based on VOLUNTEERISM instead of AUTHORITARIANISM is a much more productive and safe place.

    • S July 30, 2020 at 5:21 pm Reply

      U should not make comments on articles…..ur no good @ it!

    • ArthurKChristopher July 31, 2020 at 8:46 am Reply

      Agytha, I think you should have another look at the Magic Eight Ball from which you form your opinions. You are remarkably ill informed.

  • TRD July 30, 2020 at 4:10 pm Reply

    Is this really such an inconvenience or most likely you just like to complain. If wearing a mask is the worst thing you have to do. I would say your life isn’t that bad. Just a bunch of complainers

    • S July 30, 2020 at 5:21 pm Reply

      AMeN

  • William H. Taft July 30, 2020 at 4:29 pm Reply

    If you don’t like the mandate, leave! So glad to hear you flat-earthers will want to take your business elsewhere. Good! Those of you refuting the benefits of wearing masks and using metaphors like “Dumbo’s feather” need to look in the mirror, stand there a while, and realize the person you’re looking at is the only one you care about. There is now enough scientific evidence to prove the validity of wearing masks — Oxford, BYU, Texas A&M, the Mayo Clinic, The New England Journal of Medicine, Stanford, etc… and the list goes on and on. You challenge these academic findings with what? A YouTube video from some hack. And, Agytha Kristine, the only county that has flattened the curve in Utah is Salt Lake County, you know, the one that has a mask mandate. We’ve seen how your “volunteerism” has served the state of Utah. And by the way Agytha, take a closer look at the states with the highest rates of Covid per capita — they include Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas in the top 10. Johns Hopkins, one of the finest medical institutions in the world, has placed Utah in the top 10 states for anticipated increase in death rates due to Covid.

    • S July 30, 2020 at 5:22 pm Reply

      Good for you!!!!!. Couldn’t say it any better. Perfect!!!!…….

    • Free Bird July 30, 2020 at 7:06 pm Reply

      And all you basement dwellers need to stay there, period. I plan on living my life just as I have before. I enjoy listening to liberals whine and cry, it makes my day.

      • Bo July 31, 2020 at 11:46 am Reply

        I don’t live in a basement, and I rather enjoy leaving my home. With a mask on. Get over yourself.

        • Free Bird July 31, 2020 at 4:39 pm Reply

          And I will be one of those Americans without a mask on…

          • Bob August 3, 2020 at 9:21 pm

            “And I will be one of those losers without a mask on…”
            I fixed it for you.

  • Chuck July 30, 2020 at 5:45 pm Reply

    Cache Valley has been flattening the curve now for 4 1/2 months now. Our only spike dealing mostly with the meat packing plant. Our leaders are over stepping and imposing more regulations when this is not necessary. Remember, everyone said lets shut down for 2 weeks and flatten the curve, keep things manageable. Well, if you look at every Utah number and statistic that is what we have done. Kept things manageable for our health care system. Why do we keep seeing more regulations and restrictions. The only answer I can see is overstepping, overreaching, and control.

    • S July 30, 2020 at 7:06 pm Reply

      Uhhhhhhhh,……ok…….they would love if EVERYONE!! thought like you…..But we don’t!., And we’re not All willfully IGnOrant and or selfish like this comment. People are to DuMb to “do what’s right”…..thus mandate comes in……..

      • Fox July 31, 2020 at 12:43 am Reply

        Why so harsh towards anyone who posts a slightly different opinion then yours? Ever read the research on masks and their ability to stop viruses? Even the CDCs own web sight does not claim that the masks will stop the virus it only gives possibilities. They think that the cloth masks might stop some of the larger particles that could come out of a persons mouth as they talk and breath and that the virus might ride on some of those particles. There is a lot of mights in there. Other studies have shown that cloth masks could potentially cause more harm, even making you more susceptible to viruses. Then there is the fact that it seems that nobody even knows exactly how Sars-CoV-2 is even spreading. Again showing that they are making recommendations on mere assumptions and not true scientific studies. You may argue that that is due to this virus being Novel. Trouble is that it is not that Novel. It is a strain of the Sars virus that has been around for a while. It is a different strain but still has many of the same attributes of that virus. I think that the government should be protecting our freedoms, not making executive orders to strip those freedoms based upon pseudoscience at best. If you don’t believe me feel free to look up the studies and read them yourself. I’m not talking about NPR’s report on the study I’m talking about the real study itself. The actual paper. They are well documented and not that hard to find. So wear your masks if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside but don’t try to convince me that you are somehow heroically saving someone because I read the studies and they don’t support your theories.

    • Prince Albert July 30, 2020 at 10:09 pm Reply

      I am sorry to say that their will be a new spike in cases next week. A major employer in the city is forcing their employees to take a Covid test on August 3rd. The employees will be fired for refusal.

  • Warren G July 30, 2020 at 6:24 pm Reply

    “Daines has also pledged that the city has no plans to punitively enforce the mandate.”

    Great! Then I have no plans to abide by it.

  • Kaleb July 30, 2020 at 6:33 pm Reply

    If we are so concerned about a virus with less than a 1% death rate ask yourself this why are we having the county fair and rodeo when we could for go the event and have it in 2021 just as effectively we all know vary few are going to where a mask or face cover being the event is outdoors and since there is no citations or any punitive enforcement for face coving plus there are many articles by drs that state that they do more harm than good but I suppose the county is more interested in revenue than taking the high road and canceling the event this year I guess we’ll see the influx after this mandate is in place then maybe people will see and understand why some of us still would like our freedom to choose what’s best for us

  • Lorrie August 5, 2020 at 7:03 pm Reply

    This will only end when the people are tired of liberties being taken. Look and see what the mayor’s office received for this state of emergency… it’s not selfish to state masks harm mask wearers. I am a person too. My health is as important as yours. I will not wear one, I worked in emergency services for years. I know benefits and drawbacks. A vaccine is not the answer. Healthier life style and herd immunity is. Look, we still have leper’s today! No vaccine for that! Been around killing for thousands of years. The Savior didn’t social distance or mask up to separate himself, He loved them and continued his mission in life. Follow that example, not Fauci, who owns stock in the vaccines!

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