Excerpt from a Mar 23, 2020 Deseret News article, “1st Utahn to die of COVID-19 attended Bountiful temple last week, church confirms”: ¹

Utah Department of Health officials announced the Davis County man’s death on Sunday in a news conference. They said he was over the age of 60 and had tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. He was treated for two days at Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful before he died.

Hours after the news conference, the church announced on Sunday evening that it had closed the temple. The Bountiful temple was the first of the church’s 17 Utah temples to close due to the pandemic.

Excerpt from an October 1950 General Conference address by Ezra Taft Benson: ²

“If we are living the gospel, we will feel in our hearts that the First Presidency of the Church not only have the right, but are also duty bound under heaven to give counsel on any subject which affects the temporal or spiritual welfare of the Latter-day Saints.”