According to the Utah Department of Health, although statewide case counts have only increased by 2% since last week, hospitalizations have gone up by 22% in that same time frame.
Data released on Thursday also show a 14% increase in cases severe enough to be admitted to an ICU. Statewide, there are 137 Utahns in the hospital with COVID-19 and 18 of them are in an ICU.
Although the raw case numbers are significantly lower than what was seen earlier this year during the omicron surge, Utah is experiencing its first significant jump in hospitalizations since December 2021.
The prevalence of COVID in wastewater has become a good indicator of the virus’ presence in a community since the end of the omicron surge. As of this week, more than half of the state’s 32 wastewater sites are experiencing elevated levels of COVID.
In Wasatch County, Epidemiologist Chris Smoot said the county has seen a 21% increase in cases per day from an average of 5.7 to 6.9. He added Wasatch County is still considered to be a low transmission area, but said that could change as soon as next week if current trends continue.
Summit County is still a medium transmission area. The state COVID dashboard says the county has seen 109 COVID cases in the last seven days.
More information and the most up to date data can be found here.
