Summit County’s “Coffee With Council” on Monday was, as usual, dominated by discussion about the COVID-19 crisis.
County officials answered questions about what facilities are operating and which are not; the future of winter events; and the ultimate goal for dealing with the coronavirus.
Attendees to the electronic meeting Monday heard Health Director Rich Bullough say that their coronavirus stats are, at the moment “incredibly favorable”.
He said the county has 388 cases—three were added over the weekend—but there are zero fatalities. He said their incident rate is lower than the number of recovered cases. And in all, they’ve had 33 hospitalizations, but no new patients in that category in over a week.
Bullough said the data has been good, but that’s because they’ve been careful.
“Right now, our local data are looking favorable, but keep in mind those data came into view and began to improve when we sent visitors home, when we issued a Stay At Home, when we closed businesses and most importantly, when the community changed behavior, and really took to heart what we were asking they do.”
County officials have said they’re still concerned that surrounding counties have high infection rates. Bullough said when they approved the gradual re-opening a week and a half ago, one of his big worries was that out-of-county visitors would be attracted to the restaurants on Park City’s Main Street and elsewhere.
On another topic, a caller to the meeting asked if salons are accessible. Bullough said they are operating, but under some very tight restrictions.
“Because people are in close contact, those restrictions require masks, both by the practitioner and the patient. They limit work done around the face. They allow things like waxing but not on the face. Very, very strict cleaning and sanitation procedures. And all of that is laid out in the orders, so that’s where I’d advise you looking.”
Bullough suggested residents with questions check the county’s Revised Health Order online.
About the coming summer season, Bullough said they’re still hoping that the virus will recede with warmer weather. But there hasn’t been enough testing to provide an answer.
What they do know, he said, is that the virus doesn’t spread as easily outdoors. He said that indoors, with heating systems circulating the air, there is more of a chance of infection.
Bullough also supports wearing a mask if you’re visiting one of the city’s re-opened restaurants.
“Six feet with a mask, by the way, is safer than six feet social distancing. And so it’s hard to eat with a mask. But if I’m gonna go to a restaurant, I’m gonna wear a mask. I’m gonna keep it on. I’m gonna sit at a table with a mask on. When my food comes, I’ll take it off for a small period of time and eat, and put the mask back on.”
Another caller asked if schools will re-open this fall, and what will happen to the Sundance Film Festival.
Summit County Manager Tom Fisher said it’s very likely those operations will be different, but he can’t say exactly what that means.
“And I can only speculate that there will be school in a modified version. And perhaps that means extended class times with students in smaller groups, or dispersed. Perhaps it means—I’ve heard even some districts considering going to year-round school and rotating cohorts through. I don’t know what that looks like and I think in many ways, an event like Sundance is the same sort of scenario. It may occur, but certainly in a different setting.”
Rich Bullough said that the virus is in all areas of the county, but certainly less on the East Side.
Bullough said they are thinking about disclosing the COVID data for each zipcode, but they’re concerned that could cause problems for small towns such as Henefer.
“A little town like Henefer, if you begin to say that there are X number of cases, you can imagine that rumours are gonna swirl about who those cases are. And earlier in this call, we had an individual who said he was positive and now everybody thinks he’s positive forever. There is risk in a small community in disclosing the number of cases. And we’re gonna have to weigh that. And so I cannot right now say that we’re gonna share all of the data. It’s important that we be sensitive to confidentiality.”
The last Health Order from Governor Gary Herbert is due to expire this Friday, the 15th. Bullough said they support the governor, but don’t know what will be coming from Capitol Hill.
Finally, a caller asked what is the ultimate goal of the state’s program.
“The governor’s plan, which again we are supportive of, his ‘Utah Leads Together” 2.0 plan, and the 4.1 version of the Phased Health Guidelines, makes it very clear that business doesn’t go back to something like usual until there’s herd immunity. And herd immunity occurs more than likely with a vaccine. The early tests that we’re seeing from community sampling using antibody tests, anywhere between about 2-and-a-half to 5 percent of the population appears to have been exposed to COVID. The very most liberal estimates of herd immunity are somewhere around 70 percent. The traditional public-health definition is that 90 percent have antibodies. So we’re a long, long ways away from this without a vaccine.”
Summit County Health Director Rich Bullough.
