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Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s Answer to COVID Crisis: Do Nothing

He says he wants people to wear masks and follow guidelines but announced no new measures that would require them to do so.

The state of Idaho set two COVID-19 records this week: its highest one-day total for deaths at 37, and its highest for new cases at 2,231. To address the surge, Gov. Brad Little held his first press conference in nearly a month on Thursday and announced... no new restrictions. That’s right, no statewide mask mandate or other measures. “We need people to do the right thing,” Little said, repeating a mantra that, the numbers suggest, simply hasn’t worked. His inaction means it’s up to localities to issue restrictions, which can vary widely from one place to another or simply not exist—and to fend off protests like the one Tuesday night at a Boise health board commissioner’s home, where her children were alone while their widowed grandmother walked the dog.