The state of Utah went into the Orange color coded risk phase of the COVID-19 pandemic on May 1, which raises the question when the state might move to the lower risk yellow phase.
With the move to the Orange color coded risk nearly two weeks old, State Epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn says the state is unlikely to issue a blanket state-wide order as different regions in the state are at different phases in the pandemic. She says they’re currently reviewing all of the data on a county by county basis.
“It's important for these jurisdictions to be able to make decisions that makes sense for them,” Dunn explained. “There are certainly some places in Utah that have seen a decrease in cases, while maintaining testing capacity and they still have hospital surge capacity as well. So those places will likely be able to move a little quicker to yellow.”
As cases decrease statewide, Dunn says the state is prepared to take on hotspots with their strike teams.
“The hotspots are typically not encompassing an entire county, but usually a community,” Dunn continued. “That's just based on the biology and spread of the virus. It's person to person, so it's communities who are risk not necessarily entire counties. We're going into hotspot areas and offering tests to whomever wants it, if they happen to live within one of those hotspot areas. So that's ongoing and we will certainly continue to push that, and expect it to become even more frequent as the economy opens up more.”
Dunn said the recommendations in place will help shield the community until a vaccine is created.
“Everything we're doing right now is to balance that ability for individuals to go to work safely, be able to go to school safely, while also protecting those who are at high risk for severe disease,” Dunn said. “Those who are at high risk for severe disease are going to have to be really vigilant until we get that vaccine. So when we talk about going back to normal, pre-COVID life, might never go back to that.”
More information on current COVID-19 statistics in the state can be found here.
