Utah's Economic Plan and other Resources to Deal with COVID-19

Governor's News Conference, Q&A with Lt. Governor, Best Practices Shared 

League Members:

This afternoon we share some new, very important developments regarding COVID-19 and our economic response including the following:

• News coverage about Utah cities and towns being open for business
• The introduction of the Governor's "Utah Leads Together Plan"- a public health strategy to contain the spread and stabilize the economy
• A conversation between Governor Herbert, Lt. Governor Spencer Cox, members of the Economic Recovery Task Force, members of the ULCT and UAC and Cameron Diehl's observations about the day's announcements
• Best Practices in Utah's communities to protect public and employee health while providing services and helping local businesses, including a summary from our ULCT survey and a message from ULCT Board Member and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall

Utah Cities Open for Business

We begin with an excellent story in the Deseret News today regarding the innovative ways Utah communities are dealing with COVID-19 in an effort to stop the spread.  We applaud you for your efforts, in spite of additional challenges, such as the Magna earthquake, aftershocks, and the damage they caused.  

Read Deseret News Story

Governor Herbert Releases 3-Phase Economic Response to COVID-19

Today Governor Herbert shared a plan to respond to the economic impact the coronavirus is having in our cities and towns.  It's is called "Utah Leads Together" and, according to the governor, is the most comprehensive plan in the U.S. to date to stop the spread. The three phases of the plan are driven by national, state, and worldwide data and include the modes of urgent, stabilization, and recovery.  It is a call to action for individuals, government, and the business community to minimize the duration and depth of the health impact of the virus while staying engaged in the economy.  You can read a summary of the plan here.  For the full economic response plan, click here. 

View Economic Response Plan 

ULCT/UAC Q&A with Lt. Governor Spencer Cox

255 city and county leaders from throughout the state joined our live virtual Zoom call with Lt. Governor Spencer Cox.  The conversation included a brief personal message from Governor Herbert and analysis of the economic response plan.  We requested your questions in advance and asked the experts as many questions as time would allow.  You can watch the entire conversation here. 

ULCT's Cameron Diehl has four main takeaways from today's news conference and local government call.

1. Urgency: The Governor told the press and the Lt. Governor told local leaders that the Utah Leads Together plan is a strategy to flatten the curve, protect public health, stabilize the economy, and avoid a shelter-in-place mandate at this time.  Speaker of the House Brad Wilson emphasized that the next 10-14 days will be critical to implement the public health recommendations to flatten the curve.  All state leaders emphasized that the plan is dynamic and will be reevaluated hourly as more data arrives.
2. Testing, testing, testing: The capacity to test in Utah increased five-fold in recent days to 2,526 tests in the last 24 hours.  We will see the results from those tests in the next day or two.
3. No "one-size-fits-all: The Governor practices what he preaches when it comes to there being no "once-size-fits-all" approach.  He told the press and local leaders that there were decisions that made sense for local government to make (for example, we discussed the potential closure of playgrounds because of mass gathering and sanitation concerns). He also expressed a willingness, once more testing data arrives, to look at different solutions for different regions.
4. The "Utah" way: In the last few days, ULCT staff has participated in several work groups and conference calls about the plan and potential steps.  The Governor and Lt. Governor have emphasized that this is a collaborative and comprehensive approach, unlike what some are seeing in other states.

These direct conversations will continue with the Lt. Governor and with other state and federal leaders, including a Q&A with Senator Mitt Romney at 10:00 am tomorrow.  You can submit your questions HERE. We have sent instructions to join the call via email and will send a reminder prior to the event.  ULCT staff will also stay on the call after Sen. Romney finishes to address other questions or concerns that you want to raise.

Utah Cities & Towns Best Practices

ULCT is keeping our landing page on our website updated daily which includes links to best practices that you may want to utilize in your own community.  Here is a link to a summary of best practices from Utah cities and towns. 

ULCT Best Practices Summary

Salt Lake City has been receiving requests about its emergency loan program and thought it would be helpful to put an invitation for those who are interested in doing a similar program. Other municipalities may be able to benefit from their efforts. First, you'll find a personal message from Mayor/ ULCT Board Member Erin Mendenhall. Click here for the local business assistance program summary page about how the program works.