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The spike of COVID-19 cases in Utah continued to hold Saturday with another 1,068 reported infections — making it the eighth day to cross over 1,000 in the past two weeks.
It’s also the third consecutive day that the state breached the disturbing threshold, coming after 1,107 cases Friday and 1,008 on Thursday, according to the Utah Department of Health.
State health officials are cautioning that with every spike like this, a wave of hospitalizations and deaths will follow. And on Saturday, two more residents were reported to have died from the virus.
The latest deaths were a man, between age 65 and 84, in Wasatch County and another man, older than 85, in Juab County. Both were residents in long-term care facilities. The state has now reached a total of 476 people who have died from COVID-19.
Current hospitalizations were down slightly to 176 people, from 190 reported Friday, the health department reported. That’s below the average of 181 patients that have been receiving treatment in Utah hospitals each day for the past week.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, though, 3,956 Utahns have visited the hospital because of the disease. If it stays on pace, the state is poised to reach the 4,000 mark — an unwanted milestone — this coming week.
That is particularly expected as the virus spreads to older residents.
Currently, younger Utahns, ages 15 to 44, are making up the bulk of new cases. That group accounted for 678 of the 1,068 new infections Saturday, or 63%. And the increase is largely being attributed to schools reopening.
Younger residents are typically seen as less vulnerable to serious illness from contracting the coronavirus. But Dr. Angela Dunn, the state epidemiologist, has warned that they often carry it and infect older parents and grandparents, who are more likely to die.
“We need to take immediate action to prevent unnecessary illnesses and death,” she said last month when the spike first began.
Despite being just 27% of the cases, those ages 45 and older have already accounted for 67% of hospital visits since the beginning of the pandemic. And they have made up 95% of the deaths.
Both Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and President Donald Trump, tested positive this week and fall in that age category. Lee is 49. Trump is 74.
Lee has said that he’s not experiencing many severe symptoms, mostly things “consistent with longtime allergies.” He also noted that he intends to be back in Washington, D.C., by Oct. 12.
But Trump was transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday after his chief of staff reported that he went through a “very concerning” period.
Overall, Dunn has said, too, that the older an adult gets, the harder the recovery. Both age and health conditions play into that.
In Utah, for the past week, 13.9% of all tests have come back positive — a rate that indicates large numbers of infected people are not being tested, state officials have said. Statewide, the rate of positive tests has been above 5% since May 25, according to UDOH data.
Below 5% would indicate that the virus is under control.
There were 7,097 new test results reported Saturday.
Meanwhile, Salt Lake County saw an uptick in cases — but didn’t set any records. It reported 471 new cases Saturday.
And Utah County had 291. That’s actually down for the area, which has been a major hot spot for transmission in recent weeks. It reported 375 the previous day. Two cities there — Provo and Orem — were moved back to the orange, or moderate, risk level because of the spread, which now appears to be taming.
Brigham Young University, thought to be a major source for infection, had 1,505 cases on its campus of 43,000 as of Thursday. It has had the biggest outbreak of any college in Utah.
Statewide, schools saw an additional 102 cases reported Saturday for a total of 2,603 cases since most reopened in August. So far, 363 teachers have gotten the virus, the health department reported.
And at least 10 schools have shut down for two weeks and moved instruction online because of outbreaks.
