BOISE, Idaho — The seven health districts across the state oversee how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. The state of Idaho shifted to this regional approach last month.
That gave the health districts a lot of power in figuring out how to slow the spread of the coronavirus. On Tuesday, two health districts met.
Southwest District Health held a meeting in the morning. The district serves Canyon, Owyhee, Payette, Gem, Washington, and Adams counties. Central District Health met in the afternoon. That district serves Ada, Boise, Valley and Elmore counties.
CDH’s board of health said the director could move forward in writing up a mask mandate for Ada County. However, when the topic of a mask mandate was brought up in Southwest District Health’s meeting, there seemed to be confusion on if the board could even actually mandate it.
“There's been some questions around mandating face coverings in different jurisdictions,” SWDH Director Nikole Zogg said. “We've had our legal counsel looking at that and his first assessment were that he was uncertain if we had the authority to do that. I did learn this morning from him that public health districts do have the authority to do that.”
The assessment changed once legal counsel completed their research on the matter and advised the director it does fall under the district’s purview.
That’s because of Idaho state statute. Public health district’s authority falls under Idaho code 39, Chapter 4.
"To do all things required for the preservation and protection of the public health and preventative health and such other things delegated by the director of the state department of health and welfare or the director of the department of environmental quality and this shall be authority for the director(s) to so delegate.”
"That's a really broad statement,” Zogg said.
This means the health districts could move counties back in stages of the Governor’s Idaho Rebounds plan. CDH did this already with Ada County. Although, two of their orders were considered illegal since they violated open meeting laws.
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Health districts can also order to close businesses down if they are considered a risk. Gov. Brad Little did this at the beginning of the outbreak and CDH did this with bars in Ada County.
Districts can also mandate masks or face coverings. No health district in the state has done this yet, but a handful of cities have across the state, including Boise.
“I don't think at this time that would change our preference in terms of recommending and encouraging face coverings but not mandating them at this time,” Zogg said.
Ultimately, it’s up to the board of health for each public health district to decide what they think is necessary to protect public health.
“I think they much very do care about the health of their community and the livelihood of their community,” Zogg said about SWDH’s board. “It’s broader than just COVID19, it’s also the economic impacts and the business vitality and the mental health of our community.”
Currently, the board isn't planning on mandating anything in Southwest District Health's boundaries, but they're asking people to follow their guidance to slow the spread.
“We need everyone to do their part, going back to wearing a face covering, maintaining the physical distancing in public places is really the core to us managing this successfully,” Zogg said.
Their meeting came at a time where Canyon County specifically is seeing more daily cases of the coronavirus. Zogg said they're seeing more cases from events like weddings, funerals, and family gatherings. She said these rising cases are concerning, but they're still managing okay at this point.
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