MURRAY – As coronavirus variants now spreading across the United States become dominant strains, health experts fear the potential for a spring wave.
That is why the speed of the vaccination campaign and the measures to protect public health are so important.
On January 15, the Utah Department of Health confirmed the first case of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant in Utah, referred to as the “UK variant,” through ongoing genetic sequencing of positive COVID-19 samples.
According to Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, infectious diseases physician at Intermountain Healthcare, Utahns must maintain personal protective measures until the vaccine takes effect.
“From an epidemiology point of view, we are moving in the right direction, and we need to make sure we keep doing what we’re doing,” said Stenehjem.
While Utah’s critical COVID-19 numbers are currently heading in the right direction, Stenehjem said the variants could change that.
“It is absolutely a concern of us to really keep an eye on this current situation with the viral variants,” he said. “It just highlights the fact that we need vaccines because it seems like the vaccines are protective against these variants.”
It is a race to get the vaccines to market faster than the variants can spread.
We are on the right track at the moment, as long as people continue to mask themselves, limit their contacts and do not congregate in large groups.
–Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, Infectious Diseases Physician at Intermountain Healthcare
An updated COVID-19 forecast from the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which includes the highly transmissible variants, shows the potential for an additional 25,000 deaths in the next three months. Researchers predict a total of 160,000 deaths before May 1.
The British species has now been detected in 33 states, including Utah.
“If it was a predominant form of infection here in Utah, I think we would know about it right now because of the amount they sequence,” said Stenehjem.
While state health officials continue to monitor tensions, Stenehjem said we must continue to protect ourselves.
“We’re well on the way right now, as long as people keep masking, limiting their contacts and not congregating in large groups,” he said.
If Utah can get vaccines quickly, he said, and get more of our communities protected, then we need to worry less about the variants of the strains.
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Jed Boal