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Show B-5 SPECIAL THOUGHT PUT INTO GRANT AWARDS SCENE & HEARD, B-4 B-1 JOIN THE LOCAL CONVERSATION The Park Record is always looking for letters to the editor. Email us your opinions at editor@parkrecord.com PANDEMIC CAN’T SLOW PARK CITY TEACHERS Park Record. COLUMNS, A-8 GOVERNMENT DELIVERS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES BACKYARD BIRDING IS REWARDING TO AMY ROBERTS The PA R K C I T Y, U TA H Serving Summit County since 1880 | W W W. PA R K R E C O R D . C O M Vol. 140 | No. 31 Wed/Thurs/Fri, May 20-22, 2020 $1.00 A light in the dark Police chief recovering after falling ill with coronavirus There have been no additional known cases in the agency, but testing for officers is underway JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD City Hall outfitted the McPolin Barn with blue lights in support of workers in Park City on the front lines of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The barn, pictured Monday evening, is one of the community’s most iconic landmarks and greets Parkites and visitors on S.R. 224. For Wade Carpenter, the chief of police in Park City, the symptoms of the novel coronavirus started on Wednesday night. He suffered little difficulty breathing, but as the disease struck, there was profuse sweating, severe body aches, chills and tiredness. And there was pain. “I would hate to experience this at age 80,” Carpenter said on Monday, as he continued to recuperate from the illness. “It’s the worst joint pain I’ve had related to a sickness.” The police chief is the most prominent person in Park City or surrounding Summit County known to have been stricken with the coronavirus. One of the first concentrations of cases in the state occurred in PARK RECORD FILE PHOTO Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter is recovering from the novel coronavirus. He says he suffered symptoms like severe body aches, chills and tiredness. Carpenter is currently working from home and is limited in his duties. the Park City area, toward the end of the ski season. There has been significant progress in curbing the spread in and around Park City, but Carpenter’s Please see Police chief, A-2 An average County seeks ramped-up Idea for no-car fire season testing to identify surges Main Street is anticipated Data is seen as crucial as questioned officials anticipate easing being done in Summit County isn’t adequate. People aren’t feeling sick enough to seek a test, Bullough said, which is a sign of success. But there aren’t enough tests available to support widespread testing of people who don’t have symptoms of COVID-19, meaning few people are being tested in Summit County. ALEXANDER CRAMER “Week of (May 8-14), averaging somewhere in the ballpark, it looks like maybe 45 The Park Record tests/day. That’s not enough — we’ve got a Summit County officials Monday said that population of 40,000 here,” Bullough said. “To “unless something crazy happens,” it is likely me that just says that we need to have more of the county will follow the rest of the state into a baseline, randomized testing structure so that a reduced level of restrictions at the end of the we can begin to predict some upticks before week. they actually show up in the clinical facilities.” But the county’s top public health official Bullough said the county received approvwarned the disease remains al from the state last week to active in the community and pursue ongoing randomized that he would seek a new testtesting of county residents. The ing strategy to ensure officials hope is that random asymplearn about any potential surge tomatic testing would establish in new cases before patients ar- [T]hat leaves Summit a baseline of how prevalent County in some rive in emergency rooms. the disease is in the communiThe county is averaging ways kind of in a ty. If officials see an uptick in about two new cases per day, cases in the random sample, Summit County Health Direc- hole where we’re not they would know about a potor Rich Bullough said. As of getting the data that tential surge before people inMonday, there were 401 cas- we need right now,” fected with COVID-19 sought es in Summit County, with 36 treatment at a medical facility. hospitalizations and no deaths, Health Director Rich Bullough said such a proaccording to the state Depart- Bullough, gram would hopefully include ment of Health. Wasatch County residents, as on lack of state capacity to New case numbers have test asymptomatic people for well. dropped dramatically during COVID-19 Bullough said asymptomatic the two-month push to slow testing isn’t available because the spread of the pandemic the state is conserving its tests through social distancing measures and busi- to use on high-risk populations, a decision he ness closures. But officials have said the incu- said was the correct one. bation period of COVID-19 means there is a “But that leaves Summit County in some lag time between a possible surge in new cas- ways kind of in a hole where we’re not getting es and when that uptick is reflected in testing Please see More testing, A-2 data. And Bullough said the number of tests more restrictions this week COURTESY OF SUMMIT COUNTY A 2018 fire in Tollgate Canyon forced evacuations and was the last major blaze in the county. Officials say the outlook for this year’s fire season is average. The projection, though, could change along with conditions as peak months draw closer ALEXANDER CRAMER The Park Record Summit County was largely spared from damaging wildfires last summer but officials are predicting a return to an average fire season this year, noting slightly higher temperatures than normal along with lower humidity and precipitation. Officials are also continuing work to increase the county’s hardiness against wildfire, targeting four additional West Side neighborhoods to achieve a national fire readiness designation and offering programs countywide to help homeowners create defensible space around their homes. There have already been 17 fires in the county this spring, said Summit County Fire Warden Bryce Boyer, most of which began as controlled burns but were impacted by high winds. And a 680-acre blaze in Wasatch County started May 12 and had been 85% contained a week later. Officials have indicated it is early for a fire of that size, but that it may have been started intentionally. Boyer said the prediction of an average season might change in the June forecast, as he said the weather has been windier than originally predicted. “In wildland fires, wind trumps all. Got a lot of wind events, fires tend to become more active,” he said. Park City Fire District Battalion Chief Mike Owens said now is the time for residents to start thinking about protecting their homes from fire by cleaning out gutters, removing needles and leaves from roofs and under decks, and putting screens on openings into attics. Owens said that recent disastrous fires in California have taught fire experts that the wall of flames isn’t the biggest threat to structures, but rather the small embers that fly through the air. He recommended residents cover openings in their homes Please see Fire threat, A-2 2 sections • 20 pages Classifieds .............................. B-8 Editorial.................................. A-9 Restaurant Guide.................... B-9 Weather .................................. B-2 PARK RECORD FILE PHOTO Old Town couple worries about neighborhood traffic if vehicles are prohibited 1 day each week JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record Sanford and Hope Melville live on upper Park Avenue, just one block west of Main Street, a location that provides easy access to the Old Town commercial hub but one that is so close that noise carries from the shopping, dining and entertainment strip and the traffic oftentimes meanders onto the residential street. The Melvilles are among those in Old Town who are monitoring the talks about an idea proposed by the organization that represents businesses along Main Street or just off the street to mostly pedestrianize Main Street one day each week during the daytime hours. The Historic Park City Alliance is considering a concept for Sundays or Mondays in the summer from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., arguing a mostly pedestrianized Main Street would be attractive to businesses and customers at a time of social distancing in an effort to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. Mayor Andy Beerman and the Park City Council have not started their discussions about the idea, but it will be among the most significant decisions regarding the operation of Main Street in years. The elected officials are expected to discuss the proposal shortly with the likelihood of a decision within weeks. The Historic Park City Alliance would like to start the days by the middle of June and extend them through the end of the summer. The Melvilles, 12-year Park City residents, in a twopage letter to the elected officials in early May expressed concern about the idea to mostly pedestrianize Main Street. The letter is some of the first formal concern expressed publicly to an idea that has generated community buzz. The letter offered support for businesses on Main Street after health orders essentially shut down commerce in Park City toward the end of the ski season. “However, if Main Street is closed to traffic, where will the traffic go? Will it all be directed to Swede Alley, or will a substantial amount of traffic and commercial deliveries shift to surrounding residential streets,” the Melvilles said in the letter. “Our experience is that when Main Street is closed or clogged, a large amount of traffic, commercial and otherwise, routes itself onto residential streets such as upper Park Avenue where we live.” The relationship between Main Street and mostly residential surrounding streets like Park Avenue, Woodside Avenue, Hillside Avenue and Daly Avenue has long been delicate. Neighborhood complaints have been consistent over time even as City Hall, the leadership of Main Street and individual businesses have attempted to reduce the impacts of traffic and noise. The County health officials are pursuing a strategy of randomized, ongoing coronavirus testing in the community to determine a benchmark of the prevalence of COVID-19. Increases to that number could warn of a spike in cases before patients arrive in emergency rooms. Please see No-car idea, A-2 CORONAVIRUS TRACKER Summit County Utah Known cases: 401 Hospitalizations: 36; Deaths: 0 Known cases: 7,384 Hospitalizations: 595; Deaths: 80 DATA AS OF MAY 18, SOURCE: UTAH DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH |