GRAND, EMERY and CARBON Counties, Utah, April 15, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — The Southeastern Utah Health Department — which covers Carbon, Grand and Emery counties — is allowing some service businesses to reopen if they submit a COVID-19 mitigation plan that is accepted by the department.
Under its amended order, the SEUHD, which has offices in Price (Carbon County), Moab (Grand County) and Castle Dale (Emery County), will allow beauty salons, gyms, tanning facilities and body art services to reopen as soon as they submit a COVID-19 mitigation plan that is approved.
“In Southeast Utah, these businesses generally do not attract tourists, but serve the local population,” says a statement issued Wednesday night by the SEUHD.
The department provided a website for its area businesses to submit mitigation plans, located at www.seuhealth.com/covid19businessplan, to begin receiving proposed mitigation plans starting Thursday.
“Once the plan has received approval, they may begin to operate,” the released statement says. “These businesses are likewise not obligated to open.”
The order, as it stands, will be operational until end of day on May 4 of this year, at which time officials will announce whether the amended order will be renewed with or without modifications.
The news release suggested businesses not among those listed also begin to form COVID-19 mitigation plans.
“SEUHD recognizes that all businesses will open at some point,” the statement says. “We encourage those businesses to begin forming their own plans that will help protect their employees and customers. All openings will be phased in to some degree.
“We will continue to work with local partners and business to determine when and how to best begin to welcome visitors back to the area and to emphasize that mitigation measures are not expected to eliminate disease transmission, but are expected to reduce transmission rates in a way that will continue to ‘flatten the curve.'”
The SEUHD also said it “recommends that all individuals exhibiting at least one symptom of COVID-19 to arrange testing with their local provider or hospital. Symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, sneezing with nasal discharge, acute loss of smell or taste, or symptoms that may be consistent with seasonal allergies.”
It suggested people in Grand County call Moab Regional Hospital’s COVID-19 hotline at 435-719-3998. People in Carbon or Emery counties were advised to call their local providers or SEUHD at 435-637-3671.
