Coronavirus cases in Utah continue to rise. Gov. Gary Herbert spoke to the increasing numbers and the state of hospitals and healthcare workers in a Thursday press conference.
“When faced with disaster, when faced with increased demand for care, we understand that healthcare capacity is finite. It is not limitless," Dr. Mark Shah said.
Shah is an emergency physician at Intermountain Healthcare and joined Herbert at the press conference.
The state had an increase of 1837 cases on Thursday. Uintah and Duchesne counties have moved from moderate transmission to high, putting 23 counties in the state in the high transmission level.
Governor Herbert said this is taking a toll on hospitals and healthcare workers.
“The hospitals frankly just can’t keep up with the trend that we have going now as more and more people are going to be demanding hospital care," Herbert said.
Shah said healthcare workers have been working their hardest during the pandemic, including overtime hours that are now mandatory in some workplaces.
“I have been in this field as I said for 20 years, I have never witnessed a deeper degree of collaboration and hard work around these contingency strategies," he said.
Shah, along with Herbert urged Utahns to be smart about Halloween activities this weekend as part of the effort to prevent cases from going up.
“Yes, our Halloween activities will need to be altered, but they can still be enjoyable," Shah said. "Kids are resilient. We are resilient."
