Press Release: Public health disaster emergency declaration to end April 15
By Press Release • March 8, 2022The following Press Release was sent out by Gov. Brad Little. Note: Press Releases sent out by elected officials do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of those at the Idaho Dispatch.
Boise, Idaho – After weeks of thoughtful deliberation with numerous stakeholders, Governor Brad Little announced today Idaho will end the public health emergency on April 15, 2022.
Governor Little’s statement on reaching the milestone follows:
“I kept Idaho open, banned vaccine mandates, never issued mandates for vaccines or masks, and successfully challenged Biden’s overreaching vaccine mandates in court.
“The emergency declaration served as an administrative function to recoup FEMA dollars for a variety of needs throughout Idaho. The emergency declaration never violated or restricted any rights of Idahoans, never put Idaho on lockdown, and never allowed for mandates for masks or vaccines. These are the facts.
“Without the emergency declaration we would not be able to provide historic tax relief, a step that’s even more important now as gas prices and inflation soar. Without the emergency declaration, Idaho would not be the state with the strongest economy in the nation.
“We’re hopeful the recent decrease in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths means we are on a downward trend with the pandemic. For weeks, we have been closely examining the needs within Idaho’s healthcare system with an eye toward ending the public health emergency declaration as soon as possible. The April 15 timeframe provides an important bridge for hospitals and other healthcare providers to plan for the transition.
“I want to thank Idahoans, especially our medical community, first responders, public health officials, and National Guard volunteers for helping us reach this positive milestone.”
The activation of a statewide public health emergency since the start of the pandemic has enabled the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to cover costs associated with distribution of critical supplies such as ventilators and PPE, medical staffing, National Guard support, vaccine distribution, and other needs.
Every single state had a public health emergency declaration in place, and dozens still do. FEMA covered $257 million in costs since March of 2020 that would otherwise have been covered by the Idaho state budget or local governments. That means without the emergency declaration, the State of Idaho would not be able to provide Idahoans with historic tax relief and unprecedented strategic investments to keep up with growth.
Only the Governor can lawfully end an emergency declaration. For weeks, the Governor’s Office has been coordinating with stakeholders to minimize impacts and ensure hospitals and others are prepared for the expiration of the emergency declaration on April 15.
Since the start of the pandemic, there has been much misinformation about what the emergency declaration does and does not do. The emergency declaration:
- Existed as an administrative document to ensure FEMA can cover costs associated with pandemic needs, so the Idaho state budget and local governments are not on the hook for costs
- Enabled Idaho to cut red tape to allow more nurses to enter the workforce and expand telehealth services
- Enabled the activation of the National Guard to expand healthcare capacity
- Added hundreds of medical personnel to support long-term care facilities and hospitals overrun with patients
- Covered costs for first responders; county emergency management; funeral assistance; testing; vaccine rollout; PPE, ventilators, and other medical equipment, bringing much needed resources to Idaho
- DOES NOT violate or restrict any rights of Idahoans
- DOES NOT put Idaho on lockdown
- DOES NOT put in place mandates for masks or vaccines
Governor Little kept Idaho open, never put in place mask or vaccine mandates, banned vaccine passports, and successfully challenged President Biden’s vaccine mandates in court. Idaho now has the strongest economy in the nation.
Idaho still maintains a fund to respond to COVID-19 if needs change.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare will continue to serve as a resource for COVID-19 information and will continue to update Coronvirus.Idaho.Gov.
# # #
Tags: Covid-19, Emergency Declaration, FEMA, Governor Brad Little, Joe Biden
17 thoughts on “Press Release: Public health disaster emergency declaration to end April 15”
Comments are closed.
Your reign as Governor, with your puppets backing you, has been an unprecedented disastrous assault on our Freedoms, on our State’s Constitution.
We will never forget.
Step down, do not run again.
Never, will you get our vote again, ever!
Lest we forget… Gov. Little didn’t order a mask mandate, nor did he prevent them from happening in the state. Nor did he ask what the state legislature thought during the special session. Nor did he prevent the CDH or localities from issuing freedom dissolving mandates. Nor did he step out on a limb for the sake of freedom. What he did do was accept the emergency with cap in hand, foaming at the mouth, for federal dough. Our children were masked, out of school, social distanced… Criminal. Small businesses were destroyed, while big (campaign donating) businesses thrived. Courage is what this man lacks. Whether it’s because he’s looking for government handouts, or protecting special interest groups, or another reason is irrelevant. Leaders need to step out on a limb sometimes for truth. This man, spent the whole of the past 2 plus years, scared, uninformed, and/or greedy, choose one. Judge Gov. Little by what he didn’t do, not by what he did…because in both instances, they amount to nothing.
Little, knows the Idaho voters are easy to fool.
I would add that he also lacks integrity.
And by the way, can We the People get an outside audit of those FEMA funds? Very curious where all the money went to….
Well stated
Spot on. Thank you for clarifying. I shared a similar message two days ago on KBOI’s Nate Shelman Show. Low information voters who support the likes of Little need to be spoken to. We all need to share the Lies from this Governor.
You are a liar and hopefully you and your RINO cronies will be gone soon.
Sadly the Idaho voters are so, so easy to fool.
If I were a betting person I would put my money on the incumbents will again be reelected. The incumbents know how stupid the voters are.
I can’t wait to vote this one out.
The rape of the Idaho’s taxpayers must end.
I’m so tired of listening to this douchebag state how “HE” did this and “HE” did that. Semantics in play, he’s just another politician that has mastered the art of twisting words around to make himself look like a savior to the sheep.
I have made it a point to let everyone I know just how DoLittle has lived up to that name and to seriously look, and vote, for one of the much better replacements come voting day.
Little, you are a disgrace to the republican party, a disgrace to my state of Idaho, and a disgrace to yourself and your family. Step down and disappear, its the one positive thing we will remember you for.
I am a “political refugee” from that human cesspool known as California, who has thoroughly embraced the many (remaining) good things of life in Idaho. We moved here to escape stupid laws passed by stupid people, crippling government-imposed fees, high costs to support welfare programs, infringement on our Constitutional rights, crime, homeless-related problems, energy disruptions, rude drivers stuck in endless traffic jams, and non-stop liberal propaganda spewed forth by lap-dog media.
I am tired of people blaming other political refugees from other liberal states for Idaho’s increasingly “purple” shade. We moved here to escape this same crap that those “sacred” native Idahoans are too politically-stupid to recognize. Why would transplants from Oregon and Washington and Commiefornia want to live again under the same governmental crap they have fled?
I am stunned at the political ignorance of most natives here. You have been complacent. You seem to walk into the voting booth–look for “Incumbent” … and mindlessly check the box. Do your f-ing homework. Do the research. Idaho is over run by RINOs and we will all pay for your ignorance and laziness simply because there is an “R” next to the candidate’s name.
Brad Little is just such a RINO. He is bad for Idaho. He and his goons distort reality and want you to believe something other than what your eyes and ears are telling you. When will enough Idahoans realize that THEY are the problem, and have been the problem for a long time by electing and then re-electing liars to public office who don’t honor the will of their constituents.
Sorry friends—the truth hurts!
TY Jim! You hit the nail on the head! We moved here from Communist CALIFORNIA to escape all the things you mentioned! Now here we are in Idaho with the same crap. RINO leadership. Voters please do your research. We need new leadership from top to bottom. Lies a lot LITTLE needs to be voted out! The major of Bosie needs to go! The Liberal running the Bosie campus needs to go!
Many conservative refugees who have come to Idaho in the last 10-15 years from the border destroyed states can easily identify establishment GOP politicians. Little,, Crapo, Risch, Labrador….. We see the train wreck coming to Idaho. I would just encourage those who understand and care be patient with the low information persons and take 5 minutes to share one or two facts about any of these fake conversatives and help them understand. Even if you are only 25% successful in having them think about the next election you have been a success. I get the frustration, I’m there too. However you can be pissed and do nothing or channel
Some of that frustration for helping wake up the low information GOP voter.
April 15?? Really?? How about NOW?! Just wow….
I too read his disgusting lying BS and was just amazed that there was no rebuttal in the Heard news paper that I know of.
I agree most here in ID are ignorant of what is happening and to believe his nonsense and lies has to change. I will be out with my signs. I call this useless BS master and tell him and Carpo to stop being the puppet’s of the Globalist.
We came from the Socialist/Fascism in Southern OR and to our surprise we came to find out Id isn’t a safe place either. Now we are back to work fighting for our freedom like in OR. So very sad.