SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 27, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox urged Utahns to get vaccinated in his weekly COVID-19 briefing Thursday morning.
He also announced the weekly briefings will now happen only once every two weeks.
“There is no exact recipe for how we wind down a pandemic but things are generally going well,” Cox said in the briefing Thursday morning. “It was exciting last night to see Vivint Arena mostly full and we’re hoping they’ll be able to open it up completely in the coming days and weeks as there are more and more games there. But it was almost full, it was loud, and it was incredible to have playoff basketball back in the state. We’re a long ways away from the bubble and great to see things getting back to normal as much as possible.”
Cox also said he wanted to deliver a direct message to people who are waiting to get their vaccine or who are hesitant to do so.
“I just want to plead with you to get the vaccine,” Cox said. “Since we opened up the vaccine to everyone in Utah, we have had more than 70 people die from the coronavirus. That’s 70 people who died. Those are completely preventable deaths. Every one of those. Conversely, we have not had a single person in the state of Utah die from getting the vaccine, and we have only had one person die who was fully vaccinated.”
He added: “Every day that we announce new deaths, those are deaths that don’t have to happen. Please; I have a friend who is in the hospital right now, on oxygen, because that friend was waiting to get the vaccine, was going to get it, but just took too much time, and got the virus. And not only that, but because there are fewer of us every day who are not vaccinated, those who are not vaccinated are more at risk because things are getting back to normal and case counts are coming down and that’s great, but if you are not vaccinated then you are still at risk. And so please, please, please, please go out and get the vaccine.”
Cox said over 61% of adults in the state have at least one dose of the vaccine, over 50% of adults in the state are fully vaccinated and over 14% of those age 12 to 15 are now vaccinated. He said that of those adults who have not been vaccinated yet, around 50% say they are intending to do so.
“We’re climbing at a higher rate than the rest of the nation with those numbers,” he said. “Those are great numbers but we still can do better.”
He added: “I just want to say two words which sound very simple and yet are wholly inadequate, and those two words are thank you. Thank you to everyone who has worked to hard during the past year-plus to follow the physical distancing guidelines, to wear masks, to learn algebra and history and Spanish with your kids, to support your local businesses, take those options for dining out in restaurants to continue to support our local businesses and restaurants. As a people I think we’ve learned a tremendous amount together.”
He also thanked the hospital and medical community, the business community, teachers and state and local health departments.
To find a location to get vaccinated, go to Utahcoronavirus.gov.
