SALT LAKE CITY — Three more Utah cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Friday in Summit and Salt Lake counties, health officials said.
The new cases bring up the tally to at least seven coronavirus cases of Utahns, and three visitors to the state.
When asked how long Utah could see an uptick in cases — and an equivalent response from the state in limiting gatherings — Dr. Angela Dunn, state epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health, said: “We don’t know how the virus is going to spread.”
Meanwhile, the Utah Public Health Laboratory has tested more than 300 patients for COVID-19, and private labs are coming online to test more people, according to Dunn.
And social distancing “will become part of the vernacular” in Utah “for a long time,” Gov. Gary Herbert said Friday, announcing that K-12 schools in the state will be dismissed for two weeks starting Monday. In two weeks, the state will reevaluate what will happen next.
Counting cases
The Utah Department of Health counts just six Utah cases in its official coronavirus tally, which only counts Utah residents who received positive tests, Dunn said.
But if counting the total number of diagnosed people who have been in Utah while having the virus, that number is actually 10, according to Deseret News calculations.
- Mark Jorgensen, of St. George, was the first Utahn to be treated for COVID-19 at a Utah hospital, although he was diagnosed at Travis Air Force Base in California where he was quarantined as a passenger from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. His wife, Jerri, also tested positive, but tested negative twice before State Department officials permitted her to return to Utah. John Haering, of Tooele, who had been on the same Princess cruise, was the first Utahn to test positive for the virus. He also tested negative twice before returning to Utah from Japan. The Haerings are in the midst of a voluntary 30-day quarantine.
- The second Utahn with COVID-19 was confirmed March 6 as a Davis County resident who had recently returned home from a cruise.
- The third Utah patient is a woman over 60 who lives in the Weber-Morgan Health District, Dunn reported on Tuesday. The woman was hospitalized at McKay-Dee Hospital in serious condition.
- The fourth case was announced Wednesday as a Summit County man under 60 who had traveled to Europe and had been in close contact there with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
- Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert was the fifth Utahn who tested positive for COVID-19 while he was in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. He had been in Utah for a home game on Monday.
- Fellow Jazz player Donovan Mitchell also tested positive for the coronavirus, officials announced on Thursday, making him the sixth.
- Three more people tested positive for the coronavirus in Summit County. All are under 60 and are not Utah residents. The state health department is not including them in its official tally.
- One Salt Lake County resident tested positive after returning to Utah from a trip to New York City, and was identified through telehealth and remains in home isolation.
Testing tents
The University of Utah set up testing tents Friday at three of its locations that are expected to be put into use on Monday. Patients considered at risk get approved for the testing through the virtual care line, or through direct contact with a provider, said Traci Wood, physician assistant and medical director at U. Health Urgent Care.
Tents were set up at U. Health’s South Jordan, Sugar House and Farmington clinics.
Patients concerned that they have COVID-19 can’t simply drive up to a tent and get tested — they need to get screened first. Patients who would qualify must have the fever or acute respiratory symptoms, a history of travel to areas with widespread transmission, and symptoms of a viral infection.
They are then able to drive up to the clinic closest to them, where they call a phone number and staff members are sent out to them in protective gear to swab them for the virus.
“And this helps protect the community, the staff, everyone from more exposure than needed,” Wood said.
Two confirmed COVID-19 patients, including the newest one in Salt Lake County, were tested by U. health providers from the patients’ cars, according to Wood.
The U. is waiving fees for patients of Virtual Urgent Care that aren’t covered by their employer group or health insurance plans, she said.
Contact tracing underway
Health officials are also now performing contact tracing for the new cases. Both men in Summit County exhibited only mild symptoms, according to a statement from the county’s health department.
Two other cases were previously confirmed in Summit County — also men younger than 60. The first patient in the county had traveled to Europe, where he had close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case. The patients are unknown to each other, according to health department officials.
“In partnership with the UDOH and our local health care network, the Summit County Health Department will continue our response to COVID-19 in Summit County and will continue to communicate openly and honestly with the public. We encourage residents and visitors not to be alarmed, but to take regular but important preventive health precautions such as correct hand-washing and staying home when sick,” Dr. Rich Bullough, director of the county health department, said in a statement.
After Gobert tested positive Wednesday, it prompted the NBA to suspend its season until further notice. The Utah Jazz-Oklahoma City Thunder game was canceled shortly before the NBA made the announcement about the season.
Contact tracing for those who came into close contact with the Utah Jazz players finished within the first several hours of them testing positive, Dunn said. Their symptom onset began Monday evening, Dunn said, and they went to Oklahoma the next day “and so there was minimum exposures in the state of Utah.”
When asked about a meet-and-greet that reportedly took place before Monday’s Jazz game between players and children, Dunn said everyone who was in close contact with the players has been contacted and told to watch for symptoms.
Officials in Westerly, Rhode Island, announced Friday the closure of four schools after two children tested positive for the virus. When asked how they may have come in contact with the virus, a police spokesman said one child had attended the Jazz-Celtics game on March 6 in Boston and he’d gotten an autograph from “the NBA player that contracted the virus.” It’s unknown whether the child or the player was first infected, or whether they were both exposed to another source.
Contributing: Amy Donaldson