Castle Country Radio had an opportunity to sit down and speak over the telephone with Southeastern Utah Health Department Health Director, Brady Bradford about the latest COVID19 numbers and the mitigation process for businesses.

There has been a bit of confusion on the COVID19 numbers that the county is reporting compared to the state’s numbers, as Bradford explains, “That is because we are counting every individual that’s tested positive while they were in our area and that for us includes some visitors that we helped to get through the quarantine process. On the statewide website they don’t, no longer count those individuals if they live somewhere else, they are basically putting those numbers to their home state.” Hopefully, this may clear up any confusion that local residents have had when it comes to reporting the number of COVID-19 cases in our area.

On April 16 SEUHD Amended the Public Order so that Food Services and Beauty Salons, Gyms, Tanning Facilities, Body Art establishments could submit a COVID19 Mitigation Plan to the health department. “Big fancy word for basically saying, what are you going to do to protect yourself, your staff and the clients that come into your establishment,” stated Bradford. In most cases, the adjustments that will be made are small but very important to normal practices to ensure that the business/establishment is doing their best to keep a clean, social distance environment.

The SEUHD is going to follow the Governor’s Directive for the remainder of the month and will re-evaluate at that time. “The state has created a COVID Commission that will be putting out a lot of recommendations and guidance and sometimes orders that will be effective May 1,” said Bradford. The health department will consider the recommendations by the state at the time changes come in or go into effect.

To keep informed on the latest COVID19 updates please visit the Southeastern Utah Health Department’s website at https://www.seuhealth.com/