Summit County remains a 'moderate' transmission area according to the statewide COVID-19 Transmission Index.
The Utah Department of Health confirmed to KPCW late last week that Summit County was among a handful of Utah Counties expected to move to ‘high’ transmission areas this week after several days of concerning COVID-19 numbers.
Summit County officials told KPCW the county would wait until the official counts occur on Monday before an announcement would be made later in the week if Summit County would be moving to a different transmission classification.
As of Wednesday, Summit County is still classified as ‘moderate.’ The county's 7-day average of positive tests is currently at 8.3% and cases per 100,000 people has been slowly declining since October 15th. Summit County has averaged just under 11 cases per day over the past seven days according to the most recent data.
Summit County has been considered a ‘moderate’ transmission zone since the state implemented its new COVID-19 health guidance levels on October 13th.
According to the Utah Department of Health, the new guidelines are data-driven with each county’s classification determined by a combination of the 7-day average of positive tests and 14-day average of cases in a particular county, as well as the number of ICU beds in use statewide.
Moderate transmission zones have a mask requirement in place and limit gatherings to 10 or fewer people until October 29th in addition to other social distancing and hygiene protocol.
If Summit County remains ‘moderate,’ gatherings of 25 or fewer people will be permitted after october 29th.
The Utah Department of Health announced 1,363 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. There are currently 314 people hospitalized due to the virus.
