MURRAY – Utah is experiencing one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the country with the fourth highest number of new cases, according to state health data.
A doctor at Intermountain Healthcare said Utah is still seeing the results of the holiday wave.
“We are now at the greatest risk of getting COVID, higher than ever before,” says Dr. Todd Vento, infectious disease physician at Intermountain Healthcare. “That’s why we have to make a commitment to finish this race.”
Currently in the Beehive State, the virus is just as contagious as it has ever been, Vento said, regardless of the precautions Utahns has already taken. That’s why he said we need to double down on complacency and pandemic fatigue.
“Our conclusion would be that now is the right time for a post-holiday wave,” said Vento.
If you get together with different people every day and don’t wear a mask indoors in unventilated areas, he said, your risk is even higher.
With a moving average of 3,100 new cases per day and a positivity rate of more than 30%, Utah had the fourth highest number of new cases in the country on Monday. The number of cases per population has almost doubled in the last 10 days.
“The next few weeks will be even more concerning, as we haven’t seen all hospital admissions from this case,” said Vento.
The CDC now believes that 60% of COVID-19 transmission is from people with no symptoms.
“So all the more of a problem when you think about collecting, say, a week, two weeks during the holidays, during the New Years holidays,” said Vento.
The doctor said we will not see the positive impact of the vaccine on our case numbers in the coming months.
“It’s likely to get worse in terms of numbers,” said Vento. “So, more importantly, by 2021, we’ll make everyone reaffirm to take the preventive public health measures that work.”
So he encouraged everyone to make those practices part of a New Year’s resolution.
“So when you leave the house and put on clothes, you have to think you’re naked if you don’t have a mask on.”
Masking, social distancing and limiting gatherings with people who don’t live in our home are just as important now as ever, ”he said.
So when you leave the house and put on your clothes, you must think that you are naked without a mask on.
–Dr. Todd Vento, infectious disease physician at Intermountain Healthcare
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Jed Boal