UTAH, Sept. 22, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Provo and Orem have been rolled back to the COVID-19 phase from “yellow” or “orange,” meaning more restrictions will go back in place Wednesday.
“This is the first time we’ve rolled backward,” Gov. Gary Herbert said, reminding listeners that the color coded response system has always been billed as a dial, not a switch.
After hearing the new numbers from state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn, Herbert said, “intervention is needed.” All state officials involved will do all they can, he said, to get Provo and Orem cases back to lower rates, and the area returned to the less restrictive “yellow” stage common in most of the rest of the state. Some areas have advanced to the least restrictive “green” stage. Rich County will move to green on Friday, Herbert said.
The only variation on the “orange” stage Provo and Orem will find themselves in is that sports teams will be allowed to play, but without spectators present.
Dunn said 42 percent of Utah’s cases are in Utah County, and 57 percent of Utah County’s cases are in Provo and Orem, homes of Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University, respectively.
Dunn said that hospitalizations are increasing, but most new cases are among young people of teen, college and young adult ages. Dunn said young people in many cases are passing COVID on to older people who are more likely to require hospitalization.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson on Tuesday shared a letter she had sent to Herbert just prior to the 12:15 p.m. news conference. Asked his thoughts about that, Herbert said he would have been happier if she approached him to have a conversation, and sending a letter to the media seemed more like a political stunt than a real urge to share her insights with him.
See Wilson’s letter at the bottom of this story.
The state also has released Utah’s daily report, which includes two more deaths and 650 new cases in the past 24 hours.
The Utahns who died were:
- A Weber County woman between ages 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death
- A Salt Lake County man between 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death
The known COVID-19 death toll stands at 433. The new 650 cases bring Utah’s confirmed cumulative cases of the coronavirus to 65,044.
Those who have been tested number 768,959, an increase of 6,908 in the past 24 hours.
The rolling seven-day average for positive tests is 857 per day. The rolling seven-day average for percent of positive laboratory tests is 13.9%
Currently, 161 people are hospitalized with COVID-19. Total hospitalizations from the beginning of the outbreak stand at 3,550.
Those classified as recovered, defined as still living three weeks after diagnosis, number 51,945. It is common for COVID-19 patients to die more than three weeks after diagnosis.
