Utah Senate votes to block local mask mandates

SALT LAKE CITY — The Gop-dominated Utah Senate passed a measure Tuesday to block local mask mandates as the omicron variant of the coronavirus fuels a punishing coronavirus surge.

The resolution was introduced on the first day that lawmakers began their work for the year. It would overturn requirements in Salt Lake and Summit counties to wear masks indoors. The measure must still pass the state House.

The monthlong mandate passed with support from some Republican council members who despaired at the disruptions to health care workers, firefighters and schools caused by the highly contagious variant.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Utah is higher now than than at any point since the pandemic began, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The case counts and deaths from COVID have also been on the rise.

But state lawmakers say there’s no appetite for mandates. GOP Sen. Dan Mccay of Riverton, the resolution’s sponsor, said his 7-year-old daughter cried at the thought of wearing a mask again.

“That constituent, and that impression, was poignant enough for me to be willing to step up and end the mask mandate,” he told reporters.

A law passed last year allows the state Legislature to overturn local health mandates.

“If we don’t act, we are complicit in either accepting or rejecting it,” said Senate president Stuart Adams, who had just completed a five-day quarantine period himself.

Democratic Sen. Luz Escamilla of Salt Lake City said state lawmakers should leave the mandates passed by local leaders in place.

“My constituents were begging for a mask mandate even before the mayor acted,” Escamilla said. “We really want to keep seeing that mask mandate in place.”