New COVID-19 cases in Summit County have seen a slight spike over the last month.
Summit County reported 10 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday - the highest case count in seven weeks. Over the last seven days the county has seen 22 new cases, up seven from the previous week.
In comparison, during the entire last week of May, Summit only saw two new cases.
Derek Moss with the county’s health department said the rise in cases is likely driven by family gatherings.
"It's not too concerning," Moss said. "Obviously, we want to keep these numbers as low as possible, ideally, zero. But it doesn't take much to get those numbers up, especially when there's some family gatherings."
He said it helps that residents are still wearing masks when necessary, as well as washing hands and social distancing. But he said there is one upcoming wild-card variable:
"The holiday and the influx of visitors that it's going to bring in ... So it's really difficult to predict how it's going to affect us," he said. "I mean, I do think we'll see a little bit of an increase. But luckily, this is really an outdoor community. And so a lot of these events are outdoors. And that does help mitigate it."
With 72% of Summit County’s eligible residents vaccinated, Moss said the minority of the population that has chosen not to be vaccinated is at a larger risk during the holiday weekend.
Even with a large celebration holiday coming up, he said the department isn’t preparing for the worst case scenario.
"I think the huge outbreaks are, at least for the time being behind us," he said. "Of course, the Delta variant that’s around is very concerning, and we're watching it very closely."
The Delta variant, first identified in India, is the dominant COVID variant in Utah. Moss said it’s in the county, but less prominent compared to its presence in the rest of the state.
