https://www.businessinsider.com/utah-governor-issues-state-of-emergency-mask-mandate-2020-11

Taylor Ardrey

Nov. 9, 2020

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert announced a state of emergency in a video to residents on Sunday due to coronavirus-related hospital congestion, The Washington Post reported.

"I am declaring a new state of emergency to address hospital overcrowding and to protect intensive care unit capacity," Gov. Herbert said in the video posted on Twitter just before midnight.

As of Sunday, Utah has had 6,084 hospitalizations, 659 deaths, and 132,621 total cases linked to COVID-19, according to the state's Department of Health.

Positive coronavirus cases in Utah have trended upwards and reached an average of about 20% new cases a day over a seven day period Sunday, according to KSL.com.  The hospitalizations in the intensive care units in the state are at an estimated 78%, according to the report.

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In addition to the state of emergency, Gov. Herbert issued a mask mandate and cited health experts who said that wearing a mask is an effective way to curb the spread of the virus.

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The mandate comes months after Herbert previously said that he didn't want face masks usage to "become a divisive issue" and opted not to mandate masks when cases surged in June.

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