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Utah’s persistent driver spike in coronavirus cases continued on Saturday, as health officials reported a re-emergence of the virus upon hospitalization, with 298 patients receiving active care.
The previous highest was recorded on Friday, when 290 patients were hospitalized. A total of 4,610 people have been hospitalized since the onset of the epidemic.
In total, the state reported 93,297 positive cases of the virus in Utah, an increase of 1,340 from Friday. There have also been three new deaths, bringing the total number of people who have died from the virus to 540.
- A Davis County man over 85 who was not hospitalized at the time of his death
- A woman from Salt Lake County who was over 85 and lived in a long-term care facility.
- A Carbon County man between the ages of 65 and 84 who was hospitalized at the time of his death
Governments in a statement released with the coronavirus report on Friday. The increase in cases is unclear, Gary Herbert said. And he urged Utahns, again, to wear masks, keep social distance and limit the size of social gatherings.
“Unless we do these things, we can expect to see more pleasant days,” he said.
The Chief Medical Officer of the University of Utah, Dr. Russell Vinnick said Saturday that the hospital had a good night and its capacity was slightly reduced, which was 94 %% complete. But he does not expect this trend to continue and said he expects capacity rates to increase and cases to move upwards.
“If we had increased the cases on Friday, which I hope we did, we would expect it to increase in two to four weeks,” he said. “If [the daily case count] Continuing through the winter, it can be a really terrible winter. “
Winnick said the state carries the coronavirus so health care workers are “tired, both physically and mentally.”
“This is very difficult on them and then the mental part of not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel makes it very difficult,” he told people, taking precautions to prevent hospitals from overflowing. This includes keeping a proper distance from people not in your home, wearing a face mask and testing if you have any symptoms.
Intermount Health Care spokesman Jess Gomez said Saturday that the hospital is also seeing high use of its intensive care unit beds, which “treat both covid patients as well as many-covid patients who have intensive care. The conditions are varied.”
“We are getting closer to capacity but we are not there yet. “But it’s getting too close,” he said.
Reaching hospital enrollment heights, Gomez said health care providers are telling the community to “stay with us” and do their part to ensure hospitals are not further deprived of patients.
“Now more than ever we really need to do everything possible to get people to step down and reduce transmission,” he said. “We continue to say the same things but they are crucially important and unfortunately they are not being used universally.”
If people follow the public health guidelines, he said, “we can get a handle on it.”
But at the moment, Gomez said, “the results are coming on our healthcare community who are struggling to keep up with people who need hospital care for covid and other problems.”
The state health department reported on Saturday that 96 of the 298 people currently admitted to the hospital have confirmed using the intensive care unit bed. Utah ICU beds occupied 75%.
As many as 9,142 new test results were reported on Saturday, with statewide positive rates ranging from 13% to 14%, with state officials saying many more people were sick than those taking the test. On Saturday, it was at 14%.
Since last week, 1,236 new positive test results a day have been lengthened by the Utah Department of Health, on average, continuing a series of new record highs.
