As of Friday, Utah has 112 COVID-19 cases. No deaths have been reported. Wasatch County has six cases and summit County has 35.
In Friday’s State Health department briefing, Utah state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn reported the state has tested 2147 people so far. 621 were tested on Thursday. She says if people stay home when they’re sick and maintain the recommended 6-foot social distance, lives will be saved.
Friday marked a drastic increase in the number of lab-confirmed cases since Thursday. The number of tests taken also doubled.
“We are experiencing more community spread cases in Utah but at this point there's still more travel related than community spread, but we are expecting more community spread as we move forward in this outbreak. We have seen a consistent rate of increase every day, so it's been about a 50% increase this entire week from day to day. But more cases lead to more cases and so that's why we're seeing the bigger jump in the raw number of cases. That's the whole reason behind these social distancing restrictions. So, we expect to have more community spread but with social distancing and staying home when you are ill we will decrease that number of cases we see day-to-day, eventually.”
All Utah hospitals have agreed to postpone elective surgeries. Dunn says elective surgeries use scarce resources that officials are concerned will run out as cases continue to rise.
“And that’s the point of stopping elective surgeries so that we can conserve personal protective equipment for our providers, so they have it to take care of those who urgently need health care either COVID related or not COVID related. So, we have the current PPE or personal protective equipment to handle the demand today but not for the entire epidemic. So, it's essential that we keep our case count low so that we don't overburden our health care system and we know that if that happens, we will have a shortage of PPE.”
Utah has closed restaurants, bars, theaters and gyms, trying to slow down the spread. Dunn says there are no plans to close businesses such as hair and nail salons or piercing and tattoo parlors. She says the point of the social restrictions is to limit large gatherings.
Dunn says hospitalization data shows that all age groups are experiencing severe cases of the disease.
“We here in Utah are working on data to specify all those characteristics of those who have been tested and if they've been hospitalized, their severity, age, sex etc. We do know from U.S. data that came out earlier this week, of the 4000 plus cases in the US, hospitalization was actually consistent among all age groups from 20 to 85. However, those greaterthan 85 had the highest mortality rate and those greater than 65 had the highest rate of ICU beds, but hospitalization still occurred in those 20 to 65.”
KPCW submitted a question to Dr. Dunn asking how the virus might progress in Summit County.
“For a county with only 40,000 residents, to have 35 cases is concerning. Given we are a rural county and if everyone practices social distancing, do you think our rate of increase could be less than the typical trajectory"
“So, absolutely. For any jurisdiction out there when we as a community come together and practice social distancing and stay home when we're ill, that's exactly how we will change the trajectory of this pandemic so it is up to us as individuals to do that.”
A link to the state coronavirus updates can be found here.
