Mask Mandates

St. Luke’s health system announced this week it would no longer require people to wear masks in most areas of their hospitals and clinics.

Could mask mandates be coming back in some places? Idaho Matters finds out.

Glacier National Park has re-instituted a mask mandate inside federal buildings, like visitor centers. Officials there say they’re following National Park Service and Interior Department guidance. That is, when the CDC reports a high level of COVID-19 community spread around a park, officials re-institute an indoor mask mandate. Other national parks could bring back mask requirements, too, if rates increase around the West.

The travel mask mandate is over but concern regarding the spread of COVID-19 is not. Dr. Pate joins Idaho Matters to talk about whether or not we should leave our masks behind when traveling.

A federal judge in Boise heard arguments Wednesday in a case over Hailey’s order to wear masks in public spaces.

The public health district’s risk levels, released every two weeks, show Blaine County in the “critical” risk level, the highest, for new cases, the case positivity rate and the local hospital capacity.

In Idaho, masking in schools has at times been a divisive issue among parents and was even debated in the legislature this week.

The West Ada school district decided this week that masks will no longer be mandatory starting Nov. This comes during a national uptick of COVID-19 cases and the beginning of flu season.

Candidates opposed to mask requirements and critical race theory won school board seats in two of the state's largest districts Tuesday.

Health Freedom Defense Fund, and five Blaine County residents, filed the complaint in federal court at the end of September against Hailey and Mayor Martha Burke. The fund’s president, Leslie Manookian, is a Blaine County resident, and its headquarters are listed in Sandpoint.