Utah AG’s Office Says Utah Gov. Gary Herbert Cannot Override Health Departments, but Won’t Enforce Rules Forbidding More Than 10 People Rhett Wilkinson Follow Mar 24 · 1 min read

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes’ office said that Utah Gov. Gary Herbert could not override orders by the Salt Lake and Utah county health departments to limit gatherings to no more than 10 people, but said it wouldn’t enforce the rules. That’s according to the Utah governor’s constituent services office. The attorney general’s constituent services office didn’t pick up and their voicemail was full. (photo credit: Utah Attorney General’s Office)

The Utah attorney general’s office said that Utah Gov. Gary Herbert could not override the health departments of Salt Lake or Utah counties in their orders for there to be no more than 10 people. However, the attorney general’s office would not be enforcing the rule, the Utah governor’s constituent services office said.

The attorney general’s constituent services office did not return a call and their voicemail box was full.

Herbert had made an order for people who got together to not exceed 10 but pulled that back to a recommendation after the two county health departments issued their own orders.

Herbert also said in a letter to faith leaders on March 19 that mass gatherings would be limited to “under” 10 people, rather than more than 10. This preceded his change from a mandate to a suggestion of no more than 10 people gathering.

The mandate and then suggestion came as an effort to deal with the threat of the novel coronavirus.