Gov. Little’s only regularly scheduled COVID-19 town halls scaled down as cases grow
Idaho hospitals are seeing the highest number of patients since the pandemic began, but Gov. Brad Little’s weekly AARP town halls — during which Idahoans have the opportunity to call in and ask questions — are becoming less frequent.
The one-hour phone calls, which have been one of the few ways the governor has had regularly-scheduled question and answer sessions with the public, will now occur every two weeks, Lupe Wissel, Idaho AARP director, announced on Tuesday’s call.
The calls have occurred since mid-March, when Idaho’s first coronavirus case was reported to the public. They’ve been a mainstay of the governor’s transparency efforts through the course of COVID-19 in the state, allowing listeners to ask questions about the state government’s handling of the pandemic. Around 25,000 participants tune in each week, and roughly 65 people sign up to see if they’ll be one of the few that gets a chance to hear Little’s response to their question. The governor normally fields 10 to 15 questions per call.
The move marks another scaling down of the statewide accessibility measures that were put in place at the beginning of the pandemic, after the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare shut down the statewide coronavirus hotline June 26. Little has said he prefers the state move toward a more regional approach, allowing Idaho’s seven public health districts to manage the pandemic on a more local level.
The decision to shift the calls to every other week was made by the AARP Idaho office, according to spokesperson Randall Simon. It is unclear what prompted the decision.
Asked why the calls were being made more infrequent even as cases continue to spike, Marissa Morrison Hyer, Little’s press secretary, said in an email that “the switch from weekly town halls to bi-weekly town halls is not correlated to the number of COVID-19 cases in Idaho.” She said Little would continue to hold the town halls on a bi-weekly basis going forward.
She did not say whether another weekly call-in session will be added to Little’s schedule on the off weeks when AARP calls will not occur.
Over the past few months, town hall questions have ranged from Little’s handling of outbreaks in Idaho prisons to mask guidelines for day care workers. On Tuesday, when asked if there was any statewide rule stipulating that workers at day care centers wear masks, Little said that guidance recommends masks for day care workers but no firm rule exists unless the day care facility is in a city with a mask mandate.
“Believe me, if I was running a day care facility for my grandchildren, I want to make sure that the hygiene level was there at the highest level,” Little said.
The calls have also served as a chance for public health officials, who often answer questions alongside Little, to educate listeners on the dangers of the virus and urge social distancing protocols. Dave Jeppesen, the state health department director, joined Little on the July 21 call, and repeatedly asked listeners to help mitigate spread by wearing masks.
“Wearing a mask is an act of love and respect for others,” Jeppesen said. Though mayors of cities such as Boise, Hailey, Moscow and Ketchum have enacted citywide mask orders, Little has not enacted a statewide mask order. Health districts have also mandated face coverings in Ada, Bonneville and Teton counties.
In many questions on Tuesday’s call, constituents questioned the severity of the pandemic.
“How low does that need to go before you no longer consider this the pandemic that it is in our state?” one listener asked. Another mistakenly compared the nationwide death rate among infected people — 3.7% — to the death rate among the population of Idaho, which is 0.00007%. Another asked, “How bad is this virus, really?”
Out of 15,266 total cases in Idaho as of July 20, Jeppesen said on Tuesday, 393 were new. About 14.5% of Idahoans who have gotten a test are currently testing positive, according to Jeppesen, nearly triple the goal of the testing positivity rate. The most cases are found in Ada County, followed by Canyon County, Kootenai County, Bonneville County and Twin Falls County.
While the calls are set to become less frequent, faithful weekly listeners should consult AARP Idaho’s social media sites and website to stay informed about the course of the pandemic, Simon said.
“This is only one of the ways we are working to arm people with information about the pandemic,” he wrote.