Summit County’s case count Tuesday afternoon is just one number below the record set last Thursday for the entire pandemic. About half the number of new cases are breakthroughs, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Though the omicron variant is less fatal than previous variants, medical experts say it’s dangerous due to being more transmissible. With more people getting sick, medical services are overwhelmed, which means delays in care for all patients.
The New York times reported Tuesday that Summit County currently has the fifth-highest rate of COVID per 100,000 residents in the United States right now. Summit County at 469 cases of COVID for every 100,000 people was just below New York City’s rate of 482 cases.
The other three counties with higher rates of COVID cases are Pitkin Colorado, where Aspen Mountain is located, Miami-Dade county in Florida, and in first place with 631 COVID cases per 100,000 residents, Teton, Wyoming, home to Jackson Hole.
The Utah Department of Health said in a statement Tuesday that Utah is experiencing an extreme scarcity of COVD treatments due to omicron and was re-evaluating the risk calculator it uses to determine which sick patients need treatment most.
Statewide Utah reported 9813 new cases of COVID, 179 new hospital admissions and 15 deaths between Monday and Tuesday.