On Tuesday, Governor Spencer Cox announced a new resource for keeping up to date on COVID-19 cases in schools.
A new page on the Utah coronavirus website breaks down “school-associated cases” of COVID-19. It shows numbers of confirmed cases among students who came to school, as well as among anyone who was on a campus within 14 days of showing symptoms starting with the fall 2021 semester.
All schools in the Park City, North Summit and South Summit districts have reported fewer than five cases on each of their campuses.
On Thursday, Wasatch High School was listed fourth on the list of Utah schools with 14 active cases. It reported one recovered case and none other than students who tested positive.
Coming in at 10th on the list was Timpanogos Middle School with nine active cases among students and 10 active in total.
The only other nearby school the list showed to have more than five active cases was J. R. Smith Elementary School in Heber with seven.
At a Wasatch County Council meeting Wednesday, county health department director Jonelle Fitzgerald told councilors about the new site. She said on the first day, there were four Wasatch County schools in the top 10, but that was misleading. She said in those first days, many Utah schools hadn’t reported their cases yet.
As of Thursday, only Wasatch High and Timpanogos were still in the top 10.
In total, 76 schools in Utah reported having five or more active COVID cases Thursday.
Cedar Valley High School in the Alpine District had the most active cases reported with 38 including faculty and staff, followed by Sky View High in the Cache District with 18.
Governor Cox announced the website during a press conference on Tuesday. In his address, he said school outbreaks could interrupt what health officials hope might otherwise result in a plateau of the recent statewide spike in cases.
He also said hospitals have reached a “breaking point,” as some hit full capacity recently, and there are fewer healthcare workers in them now than during the winter surge.
For a link to the website, visit coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts.
