Moscow council terminates city orders, backs Little’s plan

The Moscow City Council at a special meeting Thursday terminated its three COVID-19 resolutions that were set to expire Tuesday, leaving residents to follow Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s four-stage plan to reopen the economy.

Little said Thursday his five-week stay-at-home order will be allowed to expire and the state on Friday will enter the first stage of the plan.

Each two-week stage will be evaluated and the next stage will only start if there are no significant increases in cases of the coronavirus and if criteria are being met. If all goes well, businesses and activities should be near-normal by late June.

In stage one, people should wear face coverings in public and practice good hygiene. Churches and almost all retail shops can open as long as they follow strict physical distancing guidelines and other protocols. Businesses are encouraged, where possible, to have employees work from home. Nonessential travel, prohibited under the stay-home order, is allowed but should be minimized.

Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert issued three orders in March in response to the pandemic and the city council extended the orders via resolutions to May 5. But given Little’s new “Stay Healthy Order,” the council Thursday decided to terminate the resolutions four days early.

One resolution extended Lambert’s declaration of a local disaster emergency. The Local Emergency Proclamation allowed Lambert to postpone or cancel city events.

Another resolution prohibited gatherings of more than 10 people and closed bars and restaurants. Curbside delivery, take-out, drive-through and delivery were permitted under the order. The third resolution shuttered gyms, tattoo parlors, barber shops and salons and prohibited gatherings of more than 10 people at educational institutions, churches and other religious organizations.

Moscow city councilors Thursday supported Little’s plan, thanked residents and businesses for following guidelines and orders and emphasized the importance of continuing to adhere to the protocol to keep the coronavirus at bay.

“We can’t go on forever being shut down,” Councilor Art Bettge said. “We’ve got to reopen sometime and until there’s a vaccine out there, there will always be cases floating around, so I think a staged recovery as proposed by the governor is a good approach to doing this.”

Councilor Brandy Sullivan said following Little’s protocol for each of the stages is the most important thing moving forward.

“These are the things that if we all come together as employers and as citizens and as customers and do our best to follow these things, we can successfully move through these stages more likely than if we choose to disregard them,” she said.

Councilor Maureen Laflin said businesses and patrons need to follow the “shoulds” of the order, such as wearing masks, in order for the gradual reopening to work.

“When you open up your business, you’ve got to make people feel confident that they can come in there and they’re going to be safe,” she said.

Councilor Gina Taruscio said people should treat the “shoulds” as orders instead of suggestions.Councilor Sandra Kelly admitted it is “a little scary” to ease back into reopening but it is also exciting.

She said she and other officials back in March said they wanted to look back and say nothing bad happened in the area because of the virus.

So far, Kelly said she is relieved at the five cases and no community spread in Latah County.“It is time to get back, but to do so cautiously,” she said.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at gcabeza@dnews.com.