County council unanimously votes to extend local public health emergency

COVID-19 data was discussed at the Summit County Council meeting on Monday, September 20. Photo: Summit County, Utah

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — In a Summit County Council special session on Monday afternoon, the local public health emergency order was extended until December 31 of this year.

The extension of the order allows the public health order of constraint regarding school masking rules in Summit County to continue.

In August, Summit County Health Director Dr. Phil Bondurant issued the order requiring mask use in schools that reach a two percent 14-day COVID-19 positivity rate among total students, staff, and faculty.

Due to state law, the order had to be reviewed within thirty days.

While no schools in Park City or Summit County are close to the masking threshold, the accuracy of school case reports is under question.

Last week, the Utah Department of Health said that only 51.3% of cases among 5-17 years old have been linked to a school and are displayed on the online school COVID-19 dashboard.

This is because school-associated cases are identified through interviews with cases by the local health departments, and only school-associated cases that have been linked to a school are displayed. People who refuse or are unable to be interviewed are not associated with schools, so these data are an underestimate of the true burden of COVID-19 in schools.

School-associated cases are defined as confirmed cases who have attended, worked in, or visited a K-12 school in-person for more than 15 minutes while symptomatic or in the 14 days before their symptom onset.

This story may be updated.