SALT LAKE CITY — As Utah this month has seen a spike in COVID-19 deaths, the state’s death toll of younger adults — those between ages 25 and 44 — has also risen.

The Beehive State has seen 36 people in that age range die due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began, but at least a dozen of those deaths were reported in November alone. While a relatively small percentage of the state’s COVID-19 deaths at 4.1%, for their families, they mark a profound loss.

The percentage of COVID-19 deaths in those ages 25 and 44 in Utah is larger than that of the U.S. Nationally, 6,475 Americans between the ages 25 and 44 have died with the disease out of 240,213 — 2.7%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When separated by smaller age groupings, 1,812 of those deaths have been between 25-34, and 4,663 have been between 35-44.

One leaves behind a young son and husband.

Charity Montoya, 41, worked as a study director at a Salt Lake City laboratory. She and her husband Rudy Montoya lived with Charity’s mom and some of their extended family members.

They don’t know how the coronavirus entered their home as they were taking precautions due to Charity Montoya’s mother having diabetes, Rudy Montoya said. The rest of the family members, he said, were young and healthy.

“It was just bad luck of the draw, unfortunately. We don’t know who brought it home, but once it hit, it hit all of us. Her mother had to go to the emergency room, her sister was in ICU for a time as well, and it seemed like we were doing fine,” he recalled.

Their son got over the illness in “half a day,” and Rudy Montoya said he recovered within four or five days. But his wife suddenly became seriously ill.

“And then, one night she came home shivering, and she just didn’t get better,” Montoya said.

Charity Montoya went to the ICU for two weeks, and it seemed like things were starting to turn around for the better, he said.

“Everything seemed fine until suddenly it wasn’t.”

He learned on Nov. 18 the family wouldn’t get to share Thanksgiving with her.

He said doctors couldn’t give him solid information about why she died, as they were in a “triage” situation as intensive care units have become overwhelmed with the increase of COVID-19 patients.

Charity Montoya was putting herself under “tremendous stress” during the pandemic, Montoya said. When the family got sick, she was already taking time off from work for a yearly two-week break.

“And I don’t know if it was COVID combined with the fact that she was kind of letting herself relax and was kind of physically exhausted, or it’s just her body couldn’t handle what COVID was doing to her. I have no idea,” he said.

Montoya said now he’s trying to cope with the idea that his wife is “not coming home.”

He and Charity Montoya originally met and fell in love at the University of Utah. They welcomed their son in 2015.

Charity Montoya, 41, of Salt Lake City, died due to COVID-19 on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020. She is pictured with her husband Rudy Montoya. | Family photo

“It’s been hard. I went from a stay-at-home dad to a single parent in a matter of hours, and I haven’t quite come to terms to that. Making sure I can provide for my son, making sure he’s taken care of, but what am I going to do to keep myself going, keep myself motivated?”

He said his wife was his “biggest cheerleader.”

“Thanksgiving was hard for me, because as far as I was concerned, she was going to be home by Thanksgiving. So to actually wake up and realize that wasn’t going to happen was quite the blow, quite the reality check,” Montoya said.

He said their son “has his mother’s strength” and is trying to stay positive.

Montoya urged others to take the disease seriously to avoid such a loss in their own families.

“By all means, do what it takes to be safe, do what it takes to protect everyone around you, because it’s not worth having to wake up one morning and not have them there,” Montoya said.

“Take care of yourself. Treat this like it’s something that can hurt you, and if not you, someone close to you. Just take care of yourself, think about what you would want other people to do for you if there was something dangerous about, and just do it back.”

Dr. Russell Vinik, University of Utah Health chief medical operations officer, said hospitals are seeing more younger people getting hospitalized with the disease due to the rise in cases. But the proportion of younger adults compared to older adults has stayed consistent, he said.

The rise in deaths in young adults likely doesn’t represent a trend, but is due to the large surge in cases, Vinik noted.

“It’s just young people are not immune from the bad outcomes from COVID. They’re obviously less likely to have them, but it happens,” Vinik said.

New cases

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Utah health officials reported 1,722 new COVID-19 cases out of 6,143 people tested and five more deaths on Sunday. The rolling seven-day average for new cases is 2,354 per day, and the average positive test rate is 21.4%.

On Sunday, 564 patients are hospitalized in Utah with COVID-19, which is nine fewer than were hospitalized the previous day. Intensive care units across the state were 84.5% full overall, and referral ICUs that can treat the most serious patients were 88.6% full.

The five deaths reported Sunday were: three Utah County men, two between 65 and 84 and one over 85, all hospitalized when they died; a Weber County woman between 65 and 84, who was also hospitalized; and a Salt Lake County man over 85, who was a long-term care facility resident.

To date, 193,809 cases have been confirmed out of 1,418,227 people tested in Utah, with a positive rate of 13.7%. About 132,000 cases are considered recovered after surviving the three-week point since their diagnoses. Hospitalizations since the pandemic began now total 8,076.

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