COVID cases and hospitalizations in Utah are continuing to increase. According to Gov. Spencer Cox, as of Wednesday, there were 574 active COVID-19 cases in Utah, which is the highest number of reported cases since early March.
Cox was joined by medical experts and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson in a press conference on Thursday to discuss the increases. He said not only have cases gone up, but so have coronavirus related hospitalizations rates. As of Thursday, Cox said there were 257 people hospitalized with COVID. The hospitalization rate for COVID-19 has not been that high since mid-Feburary.
“We continually hear from families who thought, ‘we don’t need this vaccine’, who believe some sort of crazy conspiracy theories about the vaccine who are now dead, or who are now hospitalized, or who have long-term effects,” Cox said.
Dr. Kencee Graves, the associate chief medical officer for inpatient services at University of Utah, also spoke at Thursday’s press conference.
She said the Delta variant of COVID-19 is 60% more transmissible than the last variant, and there are more coronavirus cases caused by this variant in the entire state of Utah than there are in Los Angeles.
Graves said it is important for Utahns to get vaccinated no matter their age.
“For those of you who are young and feel like you’re not vulnerable, there is someone under 30 who has been in my ICU since April 9," she said.
Graves also said ICU use has gone up due to COVID-19 with a limited number of beds left. She said this is especially concerning because the Fourth of July weekend is when the hospitals in the state see the highest volume of trauma cases each year.
