SALT LAKE CITY — It may be a new year, but all Utahns are still being advised to take the same old precautions against spreading the deadly coronavirus, even if they’ve received a vaccine, as health officials prepare for a post-holiday surge in cases.
It’ll take at least a week to see the impact from Christmas, New Year’s and other recently celebrated holidays on the caseload, Dr. Todd Vento, an infectious disease specialist with Intermountain Healthcare, told reporters shortly before Utah announced 2,160 new cases of COVID-19 and four additional deaths from the virus Monday.
There’s concern, Vento said, that Utah reaching a new daily record of 4,672 cases on New Year’s Eve could mean “the virus is bouncing around more in the community” especially since the extended holidays gave people more opportunities to mingle with those who might be infected.
That makes it more important than ever for all Utahns to wear masks, wash their hands, keep their distance and avoid gatherings, advice that extends to those who have been vaccinated and isn’t likely to change for “months and months,” he said.
“Those are as critical as ever as we turn the corner on 2020,” the doctor said. “Just think, at the end of 2020, we had our highest number of cases on the 31st of December. I think that’s really an epidemiological reminder that we need to buckle down and still stick to the measures that work.”
The state reported 6,619 people tested since Sunday, with rolling seven-day averages for positives tests at 2,716 per day and 30.8% for the percent of tests that are positive. Utah has tested more than 1.75 million people and had a total of 285,633 positive cases.
Vento said Utah’s current rate of positive tests is “very high,” ranking No. 9 nationwide.
Besides a holiday period much longer than Thanksgiving, Utah health officials are also worried about the fast-spreading COVID-19 variant responsible for a new lockdown and school closures in Britain Monday. So far, it has surfaced in dozens of countries and four states in the U.S. — Colorado, California, Florida and New York.
While the variant is about 50% more transmissible than the original virus, Vento said it does not appear to cause more severe infections or a greater likelihood of death and can be slowed by wearing masks and taking other precautions. He said the vaccines are effective against the variant.
But all that could change, he warned.
“The more we have transmission in communities, the higher our percent of positivity, the more we have upward trends in cases and hospitalizations, the more likely it is the virus will start to evade measures by trying to mutate to survive. That’s certainly our concern,” Vento said.
Although Britain and the rest of the U.K. have decided to delay the second vaccine dose so more people can receive an initial immunization shot, Utah and other states are following the two-dose regimen that produced a 95% efficacy rate in testing.
Intermountain Healthcare is starting the second round of shots this week, Vento said, and has vaccinated more than 22,000 people, mostly front-line health care workers. Utah reported Monday 48,575 vaccines have been administered out of the 142,875 doses shipped to the state so far.
Following through with the second shot — either 21 or 28 days after the first depending on which of the two approved vaccines were administered — offers additional protection against becoming infected with a mutation of the virus, Vento said.
He said it will take between seven and 14 days after the second dose to be fully effective, but it is still unknown whether someone who is vaccinated can still spread the virus so masks and other precautions are necessary. It could be late summer or early fall before enough Utahns are protected to ease those, Vento said.
The Utah Department of Health is offering free rapid antigen testing this week at two dozen locations throughout the state, including the Maverik Center in West Valley City, the Utah State Fairpark in Salt Lake City. Oak Canyon Junior High in Lindon, and the Ogden School District building in Ogden.
Anyone can be tested, even if they do not have any symptoms of COVID-19. The times and dates the testing is available varies and people are urged to register ahead of time online at https://bit.ly/2X66scM. The locations were selected based on high positivity rates, fewer tests, untreated wastewater sampling and other data.
Additional testing sites will be added as resources are available, the health department said.
The goal of the testing clinics is to identify those infected with the virus faster to help slow its spread. Because the rapid tests are less sensitive, those with symptoms who test negative and those without symptoms who test positive will be referred for additional testing, the health department said.
There are 484 people currently hospitalized in Utah with COVID-19, bringing the total number of people hospitalized since the pandemic began in March to 11,240. Utah’s death toll from the virus has reached 1,305, with the four deaths reported Monday.
The latest Utahns to die from COVID-19 are:
- A Washington County woman, older than 85, and a long-term care facility resident.
- A Salt Lake County man, older than 85, not hospitalized at time of death.
- A Salt Lake County man, between 65-84, hospitalized at time of death.
- A Washington County woman, older than 85, hospitalized at time of death.