Utah County, state health officials say behind the ‘clear’ spike in corona virus cases

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State health officials said Monday that college students in Utah County are experiencing an increase in new corona virus cases, which is now “clear” as it has been rising for several days.

“We are now experiencing a clear improvement in the number of cases,” state epidemiologist Dr Angela Dunn wrote in a news release. “This trend is largely driven by an increase in cases among college-age youth in Utah County.”

With 563 new corona virus cases reported on Monday, the rate of new diagnoses in Utah is less than the governor’s target of 400 cases a day.

Over the past seven days, Utah has received an average of 487 new positive test results a day, the Utah Health Department said Monday. Gov. Gary Herbert had said the government wanted to receive 400 new cases a day by Sept. 1, a target that met in Utah in mid-August, surpassing Sept. 3.

The virus spread very quickly in Utah County, recording 210 new cases on Monday. Over the past seven days, Utah County has received an average of more than 31 cases per day per 100,000 people, 15 new daily cases per 100,000 and the Salt Lake County average of 14.7.

“Since last Friday, 39% of all new cases have come from Utah County, despite the fact that the population of Utah represents 20% of the state’s population,” Dunn wrote. “Most of these cases are in the 14- to 24-year-olds, and most of them are among college-age youth.”

Utah County is at the “yellow,” or lower, control level, according to state guidelines.

Utah’s death toll from the corona virus was 436 on Monday, with the first three deaths reported since Sunday:

Death in Duchess County was the county’s first death to COVID-19.

UDOH said the number of Utah patients admitted simultaneously was increasing at the hospital on Monday. An average of 122 patients have been treated in Utah hospitals every day for the past week – slightly higher than last week, but below the peak average of 211 patients admitted to the hospital each day at the end of July

In all, 3,338 patients were hospitalized in Utah for COVID-19, up from 12 on Sunday.

According to UDOH data, nationwide, the rate of positive tests in Utah is more than 5% from May 25th.

4,809 new test results were reported on Monday, averaging 4,277 new tests per day for the week. Testing request It is very low in mid-July, When the government reports an average of more than 7,000 new test results per day.

Since public schools began opening on August 13, there have been 45 eruptions in schools, affecting 215 patients, with six new eruptions and 36 new cases reported in the past day – the largest increase in school-related cases in a single day. Since the onset of the epidemic, 260 patients have been affected by 56 school outbreaks, with an average age of 17. Nine of those patients have been hospitalized; No one died.

Meanwhile, four administrators at Roy High School are in isolation after being tested positive for COVID-19, which was contracted out of school, Weber School District said Monday.

The number of younger patients with corona virus continues to increase. According to the latest weekly average, four out of every 1,000 people between the ages of 15 and 24 are infected with the virus every day.

“Colleges across the state, especially in the county of Utah, have been quick to implement solid preventive measures on their campuses. They need the help of their students to act responsibly while off-campus,” Dunn wrote.

Brigham Young University students, in particular, have faced criticism for large, off-campus parties since the start of the fall period.

“I’m not going to stop,” Kwaku L, a senior at BYU and founder of the events company Young / Dumpin, wrote in an Instagram post. Videos of his parties this month show hundreds of people dancing in crowds, without masks.

He has Said on Instagram He believes that violating social distance recommendations will save the economy.

As of Friday, BYU had announced 258 new cases involving 43,000 people in its campus community. In contrast, the University of Utah on Monday raised 195 cases on campus from Aug. 15 to 62,000; Utah State University reported 122 cases statewide across approximately 31,000 students and staff; And Utah Valley University reported 23 fall cases as of Sept. 7 at 23,000. BYU and UVU post new case numbers weekly.

Of the 58,438 testes tested positive for COVID-19, 48,934 were considered “recovered” – that is, they survived for at least three weeks after diagnosis.