Moscow City Council voted to extend the emergency order mandating masks and social distancing to June 9, 2021 on Monday night.
City Council held a special meeting Nov. 9 to discuss the measures used to evaluate the necessity of the order, which was originally signed by Mayor Bill Lambert on July 1 and has since been extended twice.
City Supervisor Gary Riedner presented an extensive evaluation of city metrics which indicated increases in COVID-19 diagnoses and deaths. Two major peaks in diagnoses occurred in November, according to Riedner, one at the beginning of the month and one after the return of Thanksgiving travelers.
As of Dec. 7, the Public Health – Idaho North Central District had 6,110 confirmed cases, which increased from 3,000 confirmed cases in just over a month. Latah County had a total of 1,842 confirmed cases.
“We have proposed a resolution that incorporates the metrics as adopted by the City Council,” Riedner said. “The memo applies those metrics to the current conditions we have now and would extend (the public health order) to June 9, 2021 unless terminated earlier by City Council after applying the metrics model to the then-current COVID-19 conditions in the community.”
The new end date was determined by the end of the academic years for University of Idaho and Moscow School District. UI President C. Scott Green said students would return to in-person classes for the spring semester, which lasts Jan. 13 until May 14. MSD Superintendent Gregory Bailey will be implementing a four-day in-person schedule at the start of next semester, Feb. 2. The MSD academic year ends June 9.
Lambert said the lengthy extension is up for reassessment every month by City Council and will be considered for termination earlier than June 9 if metrics indicate the possibility. He estimates a vaccine for COVID-19 will be available for Moscow citizens in three to four months, if they choose to take it.
Council member Art Bettge said the continuation and the possibility of early termination depends on the actions of Moscow’s citizens.
“Having an exit strategy really helps people to get behind it and get this thing over with to encourage participation, vigorous participation and puts the responsibility on the citizens and not just us to mitigate COVID-19,” Bettge said. “If we meet those goals, getting rid of the mask is fine. I find them uncomfortable and really look forward to the day we go mask-less again, but am also not willing to sacrifice public health and spread a virus around when we really don’t have to.”
This article has been edited to correct the number of COVID-19 cases in PH-INCD.
Carter Kolpitcke can be reached at [email protected].