In the age of COVID-19, the phrase “going green” has a whole new meaning. With Uintah, Duchesne, and Daggett Counties joining several other counties in the state in moving to “Green”, Utah’s New Normal Risk Phase, TriCounty Health Officer Jordan Mathis is emphasizing that this does not indicate that COVID-19 is gone. “The risk has actually never been higher,” shares Mathis. “We have more active cases than we’ve ever had which means the risk of transmission to occur in our communities is higher than it’s ever been. But what [moving to Green] means is a shift of responsibility… The government is no longer going to be actively mitigating risk for individuals and businesses.” While they may be taking a back seat, Mathis makes it clear that TriCounty Health will continue to offer information on good public health practices and informing the public of the latest risk level but the responsibility is now on individuals and businesses to do what they need to do to protect themselves and the community. Continue personal hygiene habits, especially hand washing. Continue practicing physical distancing in groups. Wear a face mask or covering in public. “All those things are known to decrease the spread of COVID-19,” explains Mathis. “Sometimes we allow ‘Perfect’ to become the enemy of ‘Good’ and say ‘face masks are not 100 percent effective’ but still it slows it. We’ve always said it’s not perfect but don’t allow Perfection to become the enemy of Good.” Mathis hopes that all will step up and take their responsibility to mitigate the risk of spread seriously. The state has indicated that if numbers across the state continue to rise they could roll the state back. TriCounty Health District still has a low case count compared to the rest of the state but the cases here continue to slowly tick upward as well. As of Wednesday, Uintah County has 27 total cases with 11 Recovered while Duchesne County increased by 1 from the day before for a total of 11 cases with 10 Recovered. The estimated number of tests conducted in the tri-county area is reported at 4,670.
