Masks now mandatory in Ada County with discussions about similar mandates in Elmore and other counties

On the afternoon of Tuesday, July 14, 2020 Central District Health's Board of Health met to discuss the current COVID-19 Pandemic and its current status within the district. The district, which encompasses Ada, Elmore, Boise and Valley Counties, is currently seeing an increased rate of virus infections throughout all of the counties.

At the end of that meeting it was announced that Ada County would be placed under mandatory mask orders for anyone out in the public, effective immediately.

Dr. Steve Nemerson of St. Alphonsus was part of the virtual meeting speaking to the board as a health professional who informed them that Idaho is going through an "exponential growth rate" and we can expect to see "an ongoing growth of the virus."

Nemerson also said that the volume of cases is having an impact on health services throughout the state and that it is impacting the ability of patients to receive routine health care and emergency services. He went on to say that hospital patient growth due to the virus has been doubling about every four weeks, but is now closer to doubling every two weeks causing the hospitals to have to find a way to balance between virus care and non-COVID patient care. He informed the Board that without intervention the problem will continue to grow, impacting the health of the communities they serve.

There have been questions raised about face coverings impacting the health of certain groups and Nemerson informed the Board that it is in very rare circumstances that a patient is not able to wear a mask and that one would have to have severe medical conditions for a physician to recommend not using them. Usually severe enough that those patients would be recommended to stay at home during the pandemic.

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