SALT LAKE CITY — Utah now has 28 confirmed cases of COVID-19, health officials announced Sunday.
The new cases reported by the Utah Department of Health include one Utah resident in Davis County, a nonresident in Utah County and a nonresident in Summit County.
Both the Utah residents and visitors to the state who have tested positive for the coronavirus all remain in Utah and under self-quarantines.
Below is a breakdown by area of those who have tested positive for the coronavirus in Utah:
- Salt Lake County, 14 residents
- Summit County, 2 residents, 6 nonresidents
- Davis County, 3 residents
- Utah County, 1 nonresident
- Weber-Morgan, 1 resident
- Southwest Utah, 1 resident
On Monday, University of Utah Health will begin offering testing to those who have already been screened and approved for it in tents in front of the health system’s South Jordan, Sugar House and Farmington locations. The measure is meant to limit exposure to health care workers and in hospitals.
But testing, while important in the beginning of the outbreak, is becoming increasingly futile, according to Dr. Dagmar Vitek, medical director for Salt Lake County Health Department.
“Because the numbers are going to markedly increase, and we just cannot test everybody. And it has not actually been designed as a screening tool for everybody,” Vitek said during a press briefing Sunday.
Testing does still matter for those who are very sick or hospitalized — as well as those who work in health care. But if someone in one’s family tests positive for the virus, their family members who are also ill don’t need to get tested, as it can be assumed they also have the virus, according to Vitek.
What the public does need to do, she said, is to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer, keep common areas disinfected, practice good hygiene, and participate in social distancing, which means keeping a distance of more than 6 feet from others. The public is still not encouraged to use face masks — the masks need to remain available for those in the health care system, she said.
She also urged people to avoid even smaller group gatherings.
Those in the most at-risk group over age 60 should try to stay home as much as possible, she said, and visit places like grocery stores early in the morning or late in the evening.
Thirteen new Utah cases of coronavirus were reported Saturday, including an employee at a Park City bar. Health officials said his is the first case of a community transmission of COVID-19 in Utah.
The man worked at the front desk of the Spur Bar and Grill checking IDs and “did report to work while he was symptomatic,” health officials said.
Meanwhile on Sunday, Summit County officials announced “the closure of resorts, restaurants, taverns, bars, entertainment venues, fitness and exercise facilities, spas, churches, and other businesses at which people tend to gather” until April 16.
Restaurants will still be allowed to offer cashless curbside take-out or drive-thru services.
“The kinds of businesses and facilities identified represent those for which the risk of community transmission is higher due to groups of people gathering, the potential for contact with virus particles due to proximity, the exchange of cash and credit cards. Given the recent case of community transmission arising from a local restaurant and bar establishment, it is prudent to enact these regulations,” said Dr. Rich Bullough, executive director of the Summit County Department of Health, in a statement.
“In addition, the nature of Summit County as a destination resort community raises the risk of transmission within Summit County from travelers coming here, as well as the risk that there may also be further transmission visitor to visitor that may contribute to infections outside of Summit County,” he said.
The Salt Lake County Health Department is also evaluating if the same measures will be necessary in the county, said spokesman Nicholas Rupp. In the meantime, he encouraged people to order take-out and “tip as if you were dining in” so workers can continue to receive income, or visit restaurants with tables that are spaced a good distance apart.
One California resident — who had visited Park City with friends and on March 7 visited the bar where the employee tested positive for coronavirus — said the group all started feeling sick about mid-week after their trip. They learned about the employee’s case on Saturday in news reports, she said.
One friend tested positive for COVID-19, while the other two were told by their doctors to assume they have the illness and self-quarantine.
“So the number isn’t actually being reported even though we’re assumed positive,” said Sara, the woman who traveled to Park City. She asked that her full name not be released.
She spoke out to share the message of how easily community spread of the virus can occur.
Some people the group met while at the bar that evening also reported later getting sick, according to Sara, who said it’s “staggering” to realize how easy it was to become ill. She said she doesn’t blame the worker, and isn’t surprised that the virus would spread in such a popular tourist area.
Sara’s only interaction with the employee was simply him checking her ID, and she did not notice whether any employees at the restaurant were sick. Though she described her symptoms as not severe, “I’m isolating myself away from my family, and I’ve been basically quarantined and isolated in my own house. ... And it’s not pleasant,” Sara said.
The symptoms she and her friends have experienced include body aches, chills, chest pain, congestion, coughing and headaches, she said.
While California health workers are performing contact-tracing on the friend who tested positive, Sara said she hasn’t been offered resources or testing yet, but has been told she might get help on Monday.
If not for news of the coronavirus circling around, Sara said she would have assumed she had a regular flu and “wouldn’t have thought anything of the illness.”
“I’m a mom, I kind of have to power through,” she explained.
She urged people to stay aware of their initial symptoms, as her experience showed it doesn’t always start with respiratory symptoms, and she has not had a fever through her whole illness.
The Utah Department of Health’s official Sunday tally of 28 confirmed cases now includes a southern Utah resident who tested positive for the virus after a cruise in Japan, and was eventually flown to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray for treatment before returning to home isolation in St. George. He had not previously been included in the department’s count.