SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s rolling average of daily new COVID-19 cases surpassed 500 for the first time since July on Tuesday, health officials reported.
On Tuesday, 562 cases were confirmed out of 3,930 tests — a 14.3% positive rate, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Now 59,000 of 725,612 people have tested positive for the disease in Utah since the pandemic began, a rate of 8.1%.
The rolling seven-day average for new cases is 522 per day, and the average positive test rate is 10.6%. Currently, 128 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, six fewer than on Monday. Hospitalizations since the outbreak hit Utah now total 3,361.
Dr. Angela Dunn, epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health, noted on Monday that a large percentage of new cases in the state are those in the 15-24 age group, particularly in Utah County as school has resumed for the fall.
On Tuesday, Utah Valley University updated its self-reported case count to 151 students and 47 staff and faculty members, while Brigham Young University self-reported 330 active cases and 230 cases no longer in isolation.
No new deaths were reported Tuesday, leaving the state’s toll due to the disease at 436.
More than 49,300 of Utah’s cases are considered recovered after surviving the three-week point since their diagnoses, meaning about 9,200 cases remain active.
S.L. County officials reflect on pandemic, future
Six months into the pandemic, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson and other county officials on Tuesday reflected on successes in fighting COVID-19 and called for continued diligence.
Despite “unknowns” as school has resumed and winter approaches, Wilson said, “I think the worst is behind us.”
“We have built the airplane, we are flying it, we are doubling down on mitigating issues due to COVID-19 all the while prioritizing health, but also understanding there’s this nexus between health recovery and consumer confidence, and our businesses thriving again. And that nexus is really, really critical,” Wilson said.
“The health of our community is our biggest asset. There’s not much that can be done to run our businesses and succeed in other ways if we’re not a healthy community,” Wilson said.
Now, 25% of the population of the county has been tested for COVID-19, Wilson noted, praising the Salt Lake County Health Department’s “heroics” in outreach to high-risk areas and stringent contact tracing efforts.
That outreach to diverse and vulnerable populations significantly reduced cases in Hispanics and Pacific Islanders, who have faced disproportionate impacts due to the disease in Utah, according to Wilson.
“We built bridges that were unique, and we continue to expand on those,” Wilson said.
Early on in the pandemic, the county also formed outreach teams to focus on unsheltered homeless, and quickly developed isolation and quarantine centers, redeploying county employees to run them.
Despite lower infection rates in the county, Wilson said, “We’re not done. We are right now working diligently on our efforts around vaccine administration. We’re kicking the tires on the model, we’re figuring out how we can deploy additional resources,” she said.
But Wilson promised that the county “will not provide a single dose to anybody in our community if it is not safe, and we will rely on facts and information and the best science in that journey before (Salt Lake County Health Department executive director Gary Edwards) and I stand here and tell you where to go to get your shot.”
While the community will continue to see spikes and declines in cases, Edwards said, everyone needs to do their part to fight the disease.
“We in public health see many times where it can’t just be a governmental agency, it can’t just be businesses that accomplish things. It takes that public health infrastructure, it takes the infrastructure of the community, the businesses, the schools, etc. and it takes the public themselves to accomplish what we need to,” Edwards said.
COVID-19 support groups
On Tuesday, University of Utah Health announced it is now offering free support groups for those dealing with grief after losing loved ones to the disease, as well as those who are still recovering from the physical or mental effects of COVID-19 infections.
“We know that we’ve had over 400, nearly 500 deaths to COVID in the state of Utah. And many people are really grieving those deaths in a very challenging way. Many were not able to be in the hospital or in the nursing home, or in assisted living, at the time their family member died, and that compounds their grief,” said Kathie Supiano, associate professor at U. College of Nursing and director of Caring Connections, which provides grief-support programs.
Those who are considered recovered from COVID-19 also face difficulties including isolation, depression, extreme fatigue and other symptoms.
“I think we’re seeing people having a lot of issues with isolation when they’re at home having to be by themselves for that quarantine time,” said Heather Smith, with the U. Health palliative care team. A common symptom many who had infections face is extreme fatigue, she said.
“We’re hoping to get enough people talking about it that they get the support that they need,” Smith said.
The groups will take place Tuesday evenings over Zoom video conferencing. Those interested can register by calling 801-585-9522.
The Multicultural Counseling Center is also offering a support group in Spanish for members of the Latino and Hispanic community. Those meetings have taken place since late July.
“We see people who have been affected directly, they’ve personally been sick or their relatives, families, parents, cousins and so on. But not only here, but because we are community migrants, we have a lot of people who have been affected in other countries,” said Mario Vasquez, a counselor with the counseling center.
“We are far away from mom or dad who have passed away,” he said, and travel restrictions have made it more difficult to see those loved ones and mourn them.
“It’s already tough, that’ll make it tougher,” Vasquez explained.
Those interested in registering for the multicultural support group can call 801-915-0359.
The support groups, which will include between eight and 12 people per session, are funded by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. More groups could be created based on demand, Supiano said.