The Yankton County Board of Health will now restrict public gatherings of ten people or more.
That’s a move the southeastern South Dakota county government feels they have the authority to make based on CDC guidelines and Governor Kristi Noem’s executive order.
Other counties are looking at similar provisions. Yankton County Chair Cheri Loest says the resolution gives county boards of health the ability to enforce against threats to public health.
Loest says county governments are unsure of their authority in addressing the pandemic.
“A while back they were changing the authority on zoning for the county government because they didn’t think the county government could make their own decision there,” Loest says. “Well, now they don’t think we can make that decision here either. I know it’s not sitting well at the county government level, but that’s what it is. We go back to what can we do.”
On Monday, the legislature denied a bill that allows county governments to pass emergency ordinances to suppress the coronavirus disease. That bill got rejected.
Yankton County has 11 COVID-19 cases and is considered to have community spread.
