Health officials worn down amid crisis in small cities

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Arguments over mask requirements and other restrictions have turned ugly in recent days as the deadly coronavirus surge across the U. S. engulfs small and medium- size cities that once seemed at a safe remove from the outbreak.

In Boise, Idaho, public health officials about to vote on a four- county mask mandate abruptly ended a meeting Tuesday evening because of fears for their safety amid anti- mask protests outside the building and at some of their homes.

One health board member tearfully announced she had to rush home to be with her child because of the protesters, who were seen on video banging on buckets, blaring air horns and sirens, and blasting a sound clip of gunfire from the violence-drenched movie “Scarface” outside her front door.

“I am sad. I am tired. I fear that, in my choosing to hold public office, my family has too often paid the price,” said the board member, Ada County Commissioner Diana Lachiondo. “I increasingly don’t recognize this place. There is an ugliness and cruelty in our national rhetoric that is reaching a fevered pitch here at home, and that should worry us all.”

Boise police said three arrest warrants were issued in connection with the demonstrations at board members’ homes.

In California, Sacramento County health officials had to suspend a meeting Tuesday after more than two dozen protesters pounded on the chamber doors during a debate over whether to strengthen enforcement against businesses that violate virus restrictions.

And in South Dakota, the mayor of Rapid City said City Council members were harassed and threatened over a proposed citywide mask mandate that failed this week even as hospitals’ intensive care units across the state f illed with COVID- 19 patients.

“I think that’s a sad commentary here in the middle of a global pandemic, the worst health crisis in our lifetimes, and we’re f ighting over a mask,” Mayor Steve Allender said.

The tensions are f laring amid an epic surge across the U. S. in deaths, hospitalizations and infections over the last several weeks.

Deaths are running at more than 2,200 a day on average, all but matching the level seen during the spring’s peak in and around New York City. New cases per day have rocketed to more than 200,000 on average, and the number of patients in the hospital with COVID- 19 stood at more than 106,000 on Wednesday, another all- time high.

In Idaho, hospital officials have repeatedly warned they are becoming overwhelmed and could be forced to implement “crisis standards of care” — that is, reserve lifesaving treatment for patients most likely to survive. Idaho health authorities reported nearly 2,300 new cases Wednesday and a running death toll of at least 1,103.

South Dakota has suffered through the country’s worst rate of COVID- 19 deaths per capita over the last week, but Gov. Kristi Noem has been ardent in her opposition to mask mandates or other aggressive efforts to slow infections.

That hands- off approach drew vocal support at Rapid City council meetings, even as doctors warned that the only large hospital in the western half of the state is facing a crisis and patients are being f lown out of the state.

Dr. Stephen Neabore, a physician with the biggest hospital system in the region, said he has been frustrated as he tries to persuade people to wear masks.

“I still see people out here that will tell me that they don’t believe it’s any worse than a common cold,” he said.