Utah Governor Gary Herbert has declared a state of emergency and implemented a set of guidelines, including a mask mandate, as COVID-19 infections surge.
The state has seen more than 2,000 news cases per day for the last week and Greg Bell, president and CEO of the Utah Hospital Association said the situation is "unsustainable."
"We've long been urging the governor to make the wearing of masks mandatory. That's been done more on a local level and hasn't hitherto been needed in rural areas, but right now, we're in it deep and we have to have some intervention," Bell told Cheddar.
While mask wearing has become a political debate, particularly in Republican-led states, Bell said Utah's legislative leadership has been "by-and-large on board."
"We're seeing two-thirds of the state or more saying 'Look it's time we got absolutely serious about this.' It can't just be a few of us. It's got to be all of us, or it's not going to make a difference," he continued.
As the number of hospitalizations in Utah continues to rise, a very real concern for many patients — and those on the fence about admitting themselves to a hospital — are the growing costs of healthcare and emergency room visits.
Yesterday's U.S. Supreme Court hearing seemed to suggest it is likely to allow the Affordable Care Act to continue to exist, even without the controversial individual mandate. However, many still question why healthcare is so expensive.
President Trump, through executive order, required medical price transparency and recently finalized a rule that requires insurance companies to disclose healthcare price points so patients can make more informed decisions before seeking medical care.
Bell and the Utah Hospital Association are fighting against that executive order, which is set to begin rolling out January 1, 2021.
"Hospital pricing is way too complex. In a way it's indefensible, but it's also a system that's been foisted on us by the federal government and the insurance companies," he told Cheddar.
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
