STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Decreasing COVID infection rates in the Wood River Valley prompted Hailey Mayor Martha Burke to drop her city’s mask mandate Friday.

The Hailey City Council will consider the order at its Monday, March 14, meeting.

Risk levels in every single county under South Central Public Health District’s jurisdiction have been downgraded from high to moderate, according to the latest risk assessment. Those living in areas with moderate or better risk need not wear masks unless they’re immunocompromised, according to the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control.

Hailey’s new advisory order redirects the city guidance from the South Central Public Health District’s data and guidance to CDC guidance, which recommends that masks need be worn inside only at high levels of transmission.

The order says that every person should abide by the CDC’s new COVID-19 Community Levels tools and take the recommended precautions to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. The CDC’s level of risk is assessed by looking at the number of hospital beds being used, COVID hospital admissions and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area.

The CDC guidelines can be seen at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/covid-by-county.html.

DID YOU FEEL THE EARTH MOVE?

Presumably, the news that the last of the mask mandates in the Wood River Valley had been dropped did not set off the 3.8 magnitude earthquake five miles north of Stanley just before 2 p.m. Friday.

The quake was nowhere near the 6.5 magnitude that struck 19 miles northwest of Stanley in March 2020. That was felt by just about everyone in the Wood River Valley, as well as some out of state residents.