As Idaho starts to reopen many businesses Friday, the City of Boise is putting some additional safety measures above and beyond the state’s plan.
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean signed a health order yesterday requiring people to keep a six-foot distance from each other for the next 30 days. She’s also asking people to wear face masks in public.
This order is on top of Governor Brad Little’s staged reopening that the city is also adopting. Still, the mayor said in a press conference that there may be scenarios where she would move to a plan stricter than the state’s.
“If we saw in Boise specifically health data that was different than the state on average,” she said.
The city will reopen facilities in five stages. Phase One will open public services including facility maintenance, inspections, recycling and compost, limited golf and whitewater park activities.
Phase Two will include library options, Boise Depot, more golf, bike skills park and park restrooms. Groups will be limited to 10 people The last stage and a complete reopening requires a vaccine to be widely available.
There have been reports of gatherings in public spaces where people were not physically distancing; McLean said she will rely on education to enforce the city and state orders.
"The more each of us can do to own the responsibility that comes with our individualism, the more likely it is that we move forward and meet our goals of recovering our economy and getting back to work," she said.
The city will decide how to move through the stages not on dates, but from data around the spread of the virus and health care capacity.
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