SALT LAKE CITY-Tuesday, Utah Governor Gary Herbert said, during his daily COVID-19 briefing, that the next two weeks for the Beehive State are “critical.”
While the state is still in its “urgent phase,” from his Utah Leads Together document released Friday, there are encouraging signs and state leaders are doing all they can to combat the coronavirus.
Herbert insisted the state will not rest until the transmission rate of the disease is driven down.
The “transmission rate” refers to how swiftly COVID-19 is being spread.
A transmission rate of 3.0, for instance, means one infected person is likely to pass the disease along to three others.
They, theoretically, would each spread it to three people in a pyramid effect.
Friday, when Herbert released the “Stay Safe, Stay Home” directive, the transmission rate in Utah was 1.5 and things have not changed from this number in the past few days.
State leaders hope to get the transmission rate down to the 0.6-1.0 rate, suggesting the disease would no longer be spreading at an increased rate, if this can occur, Herbert said.
In hopes of driving the rate down, two of Utah’s top priorities are testing and contract tracting, Herbert revealed.
Health officials are currently able to test 4,000 people per day but the state’s goal is to test 7,000 per day, a figure Herbert revealed Monday.
Other top priorities for Utah at this time include finding and deploying personal protective equipment for healthcare providers, planning for increased hospital activity, planning for economic recovery and communicating the latest information to the public quickly and effectively, Herbert said.
The state currently has about 27,000 masks but he expressed the need for 2-3 million in Utah. The Beehive State had some 3.28 million residents per a February 2020 report.
State officials are working with hospitals to see if material from used masks can be recycled instead of discarded.
Herbert said the federal economic relief from the federal government will be coming soon because of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
This will assist Utah businesses as they hope to stay afloat and continue in keeping workers employed, Herbert confirmed.
Herbert also indicated a special session of the Utah Legislature will likely be necessary in following weeks to address budget issues.
When he was asked concerning a possible rent and mortgage payment freeze, Herbert said that “everything is on the table” but expressed his hope that the federal aid package would assist businesses and workers across the economy.
Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Jess Anderson said it is difficult at this stage to know how many Utahns have COVID-19.
He stated that “it is on the radar for state leaders to begin tracking that.”
Anderson said it’s important for the state to gather the most accurate and complete data they can so the public can be confident that the state responds to the crisis appropriately.
