SALT LAKE CITY – Although Utah is experiencing a month-long increase in new daily COVID-19 cases, its hospitals have yet to see a large increase in demand for care, but are preparing if it happens, officials said. health on Monday.
In early June, the average daily number of new cases increased from 200 to 400. That happened approximately two weeks after the restrictions were lifted when Utah entered its “yellow” or low-risk phase of the pandemic. Since then, the state of the hive for the past two weeks has confirmed an average of more than 500 new cases each day.
But at the same time, the state’s hospitalization rate is declining. While that rate was once about 8%, it is now about 6.3%, according to data from the Utah Department of Health. Meanwhile, the state’s confirmed case death rate has dropped to 0.75%, down from 1.07% in early May.
And a makeshift state-established hospital in April at the Mountain America Exhibition Center through a contract with Salt Lake County has been “partially demobilized,” since the contract expired in mid-May, said Joe Dougherty, spokesman from the Utah Division of Emergency Management. But the team remains at the center if the need arises, and it can be set up in 12 hours, Dougherty said.
“Although case counts and hospital capacity have grown in recent weeks, our hospital systems are still below capacity, which means they can still manage patient care,” he said.
At Intermountain Healthcare, patients hospitalized with COVID-19 doubled in the past month, hospital officials said in a statement.
“But we are also serving non-COVID patients whose services were previously paused. We are doing it safely and have implemented processes to separate the care of patients with COVID and those who do not have the virus, “Intermountain officials said in a statement to the Deseret News on Monday.
“Until now, we have not had to activate our increase plans. But we are getting closer to that threshold as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Utah, and more people need hospital care, “authorities said.
Utah’s intensive care units are now 61.2% occupied, while its non-intensive care units are 43.7% occupied. COVID-19’s total hospitalizations now stand at 192. Of the state’s nearly 1,300 fans, 195 are in use.
Dr. Angela Dunn, an epidemiologist at the state health department, expressed concern on Twitter last week that July 4, like Memorial Day, could lead to yet another spike in cases.
But it will take 10-14 days to see a potential impact of the holiday weekend, said Charla Haley, a department spokeswoman. For now, public health officials are closely watching the numbers.
The current concern is whether residents are taking precautions against the virus seriously since Utah moved into its low-risk phase of the pandemic, Haley said. Officials are concerned that people believe that means there is no risk and that precautions are no longer important, he said.
“We continue to observe the numbers every day and are ready to activate our surge plans. We know that there may be a general delay of 10 days before someone becomes so ill that they require hospital care. We are reaching a point where the first step in our augmentation plan may be necessary, ”said Intermountain officials.
The system has a plan to expand its intensive care beds in the event that an increase exceeds its regular capacity.
“We continue to work closely with government officials, other health partners and local communities as we move forward in our preparation,” the officials said.
At MountainStar Healthcare, another of the largest hospital systems operating in the state, “We are operating at approximately normal capacity for the summer,” said Jen Wagenaar, executive director of nursing for MountainStar. The system has consistently seen that COVID-19 patients have a low double-digit average even during the increase in cases, he said.
“We have certainly seen growth in the number of cases,” Wagenaar said. “That said, we are still well equipped (to handle them) across the state and at MountainStar.”
Hospital officials have seen that community factors, including age and average lifestyle, influence hospitalization rates and the level and duration of care that patients will need, Wagenaar said. Utah, with a healthier and younger population on average, has seen lower hospitalization rates than other states.
But all residents still need diligence to maintain the hospital’s capacity, Wagenaar said.
An increase in hospital demand could disproportionately affect rural areas, health officials warned.
The Covid Atlas of the USA, a national breakdown created by the University of Chicago, shows the cumulative hospital capacity for each county. While metropolitan hospitals appear to have fared well, the data reveals the potential burden rural hospitals face during the Utah pandemic.
There are 36 licensed hospital beds in San Juan County, meaning that if all people with the disease require hospitalization at the same time, there would be only one bed for every 11.5 of the county’s 414 confirmed cases. Wasatch County, meanwhile, has 19 licensed hospital beds. The county has confirmed 422 cases, which means there is one bed for every 22.2 cases.
In comparison, Salt Lake County has 3,369 licensed hospital beds. There has been one bed for every 3.7 cases of the county’s 12,758 cases.
New cases
Utah again confirmed a host of new cases of COVID-19, as well as six more deaths on Monday.
The 517 positive tests of 4,534 reported Monday bring the state’s total since the pandemic began to 25,469 of 375,842, a positive rate of 6.8%, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Twenty-two more people required hospitalization for the disease on Monday.
Over the past two weeks, Utah has averaged more than 500 new cases each day. Last week, it averaged 544 positives of just under 6,000 tests, while the daily average for the previous week was 537 positives out of 5,000 tests, state health officials noted.
Six more deaths with the new coronavirus were also reported on Monday:
- A Davis County woman, age 45-64, not hospitalized.
- A Wasatch County man, 65-84, hospitalized.
- A Salt Lake County man, 65-84, not hospitalized.
- A Salt Lake County man, 65-84, a long-term care resident.
- A Salt Lake County woman, age 45-64, hospitalized, long-term care resident.
- A Salt Lake County woman, 65-84, not hospitalized.
Those deaths bring the state figure to 190.
Just under 14,500 people consider themselves recovered from the disease in Utah after the three-week point has passed since their diagnosis.
Utah’s latest breakdown of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths by health district:
- Salt Lake County, 12,758; 866 hospitalized; 117 deaths.
- Utah County, 4,648; 238 hospitalized; 23 deaths.
- Southwest Utah, 1,731; 108 hospitalized; 13 deaths.
- Bear River (Box Elder, Cache, Rich), 1,642; 60 hospitalized; 3 deaths.
- Davis County, 1,470; 94 hospitalized; 6 deaths.
- Weber-Morgan, 1,255; 85 hospitalized; 14 deaths.
- Summit County, 534; 47 hospitalized; 1 deaths.
- Wasatch County, 426; 20 hospitalized; 4 deaths.
- San Juan County, 416; 59 hospitalized; 9 deaths.
- Tooele County, 275; 12 hospitalized; 0 deaths.
- Central Utah, 217; 12 hospitalized; 0 deaths.
- TriCounty (Uinta Basin), 56; 3 hospitalized; 0 deaths.
- Southeast Utah, 41; 0 hospitalized; 0 deaths.
Correction: In an earlier version, Intermountain officials said there is a delay of four to seven days before someone requires hospital care for COVID-19. Later they clarified that it can take 10 days.
