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Park City Hospital Chief Medical Officer says 20-30% of visits are for COVID-19; record number of Utahns hospitalized

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Utah saw a record 843 COVID-19 hospitalizations Thursday.

Health officials say the sheer number of people getting sick are overloading Utah’s hospital systems.

In an Intermountain Healthcare briefing Thursday morning, Park City Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Wing Province said between 20-30% of all hospital visits in Park City are from COVID patients. However, he said many people are not ill enough to be admitted.

Province said although the omicron variant has been less fatal than previous variants, the large numbers of people testing positive are driving hospitalizations up and putting strain on Utah’s healthcare systems.

Thursday, 843 people were hospitalized statewide, a pandemic record. Hospitalizations have steadily increased since Christmas Eve.

According to the Summit County COVID dashboard, 17 county residents have been hospitalized in the last month. Only one person has been sick enough to be admitted to the ICU.

Province said the disease can present differently for everyone, which also plays a part in why hospitalizations are so high right now.

“I’ve seen a whole family come in where one individual has only the respiratory issues, the spouse has only the [gastro intestinal] issues, and their college-aged kid only has the loss of taste and smell," Province said. "The college kid gets to go home, but the two parents get admitted with completely different courses of disease. We’re seeing a lot of that and that’s contributing to the really high hospitalization rate that we’re seeing right now.”

Additionally, due to a statewide shortage of tests, Province said he is seeing people willing to pay for an ER visit just to get a COVID test. He said that’s making it difficult for hospitals to take care of the patients who are the most sick and really need to be there.

Earlier this month as testing centers were overwhelmed with people, the Utah Department of Health asked people to not get tested unless they have serious underlying conditions. Those who feel sick are asked to assume they are positive and isolate for five days from when their symptoms began.

Province added that he knows everyone is tired of dealing with COVID. He said he and his colleagues are too.

“I overheard somebody the other day talking about how they just wish this would be over with and how the government would just let it be over with and how the media would let this be over with and how they wish healthcare people would just let go of it," said Province. "I just want to say to all those listening, I want you to know that we doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists and technicians and everybody who works in the hospital, we don’t want this either. We wish it were over with too. We actually think it could have been over with a long time ago had proper public health measures been taken by the public. We’re just as tired of this as you are. We’d love to go back to our normal lives, we’d love to not go to work and every time we go, worry about being exposed to a disease that we could bring home and infect our families with.”

Health officials maintain that the best way to be protected from serious illness is to be vaccinated, get a booster shot, and wear a mask in crowded places.

To find a free vaccine location near you, click here.

Sean Higgins covers all things Park City and is the Saturday Weekend Edition host at KPCW. Sean spent the first five years of his journalism career covering World Cup skiing for Ski Racing Media here in Utah and served as Senior Editor until January 2020. As Senior Editor, he managed the day-to-day news section of skiracing.com, as well as produced and hosted Ski Racing’s weekly podcast. During his tenure with Ski Racing Media, he was also a field reporter for NBC Sports, covering events in Europe.