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Watching the Coeur d'Alene City Council considering a mask mandate. Kootenai Health says the situation has changed "for the worse" at the hospital. Last week, they had ONE open bed. Also cites staff fatigue.
Side note: The council won't let media in the room for this meeting, with police citing capacity issues. This is a city/county, keep in mind, with almost no COVID regulations in place.
CEO of Kootenai Health says he expects Idaho Gov Little is going to roll back reopenings in news conference this afternoon.
Kootenai Health has had 316 patients with COVID. 77 have required critical care. 35 are in the hospital now; 11 in critical care. This represents people in the 20s through the 90s.
A man on the council is questioning use of masks, saying it hasn't been mentioned before March. Chief physician explains that masks have long been a way to prevent the spread of diseases. He's also comparing this to whooping cough. (note: there's a vaccine for whooping cough.)
A council member just presented this: Says having people wear masks assumes they all have COVID. He says it's the same as assuming all drivers are drunk and treating them that way.
Asked why the surge in cases, a rep from Panhandle Health says:
-Fatigue. We're tired of it.
-Change in weather; we're going inside
-Also says the schools are not causing wide community spread & that the schools need to remain open.
-Fatigue. We're tired of it.
-Change in weather; we're going inside
-Also says the schools are not causing wide community spread & that the schools need to remain open.
"300 physicians are telling you to wear a mask... who else are you going to listen to?" Rep from Panhandle Health says about a letter supporting a mask requirement in Coeur d'Alene.
Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Lee White is asking: Council, are you comfortable with us issuing citations for people not wearing a mask? Mayor answers that he prefers the education piece.
"It's not our intention to arrest anyone.. we won't arrest anyone in Coeur d'Alene for not wearing a mask." -Coeur d'Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer
Coeur d'Alene police chief saying there are "hard core gangsters" coming over from "our neighbors to the west" because the bars are open until 2 am.
Another issue here: the ordinance the city council is considering references Idaho being in "Stage 4." As the meeting has gone on, the Governor of Idaho has moved the state back to Stage 3.
Things are going well in the city council's facebook comments.
