RED LODGE - Carbon County health officials announced Wednesday morning a public mask mandate, noting that many positive cases in that area have been linked to Yellowstone County.
In a press release, county health officials said the mask mandate made through a Public Health Order mirrors the statewide mask order issued by Gov. Steve Bullock on July 15, but the county order will not be lifted if the number of cases drop below four and it will stay in effect until lifted by the county health officer.
Here is the full press release:
The Carbon County Health Officer along with the Carbon County Board of Health has issued a Public Health Order that modifies the state masking directive for Carbon County effective July 30, 2020. The Carbon County Public Health Directive mirrors the Governor's masking directive issued July 15, 2020 but will stay in effect until notified otherwise by the Public Health Officer. This will be a more stringent order than the State's directive which lifts the masking order once the active cases drop below 4 per county. This modification for our county will allow the Public Health Officer to closely monitor case numbers until active cases drop below 4 for a sustained period of time and will allow ease of operations for business owners, lifting the need to monitor local data that can change frequently. Dr. George, Carbon County Public Health Officer, cites several reasons for the masking order:
● Our contact tracing efforts have found that many positive cases in Carbon County are linked to Yellowstone County. Therefore, we believe our viral prevalence is very dependent on Yellowstone County which presently is surging.
● Test result delays make active case counts very unreliable in real time.
● It is unrealistic for businesses to follow active case rates daily from state and local data, which at times are not consistent and can change hourly.
“Cloth face coverings are strongly encouraged to reduce the spread of COVID-19 as demonstrated by emerging evidence.” Dr. George said, “COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet), so the
use of cloth face coverings is particularly important in settings where people are close to each other or where social distancing is difficult to maintain.”
This Public Health order will be in effect until further notice. The Carbon County Board of Health will communicate when wearing a mask in public spaces is no longer necessary via Carbonalert.org, Carbon Alert on Facebook and Instagram, the Carbon County News and Laurel Enterprise and FM 99.3 The Mountain. Any questions regarding Carbon County’s response to COVID-19 can be directed by email at: covid19imt@co.carbon.mt.us or by voicemail at: 406-445-7258 Response will be provided within 1~3 business days.
At the time of this press release, Carbon County has 12 active cases, bringing the total confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in the county to 58. Details can be found at CarbonAlert.org. For general information on COVID-19, visit covid19.mt.gov or cdc.gov