SALT LAKE CITY-Thursday, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert addressed the media at the Utah State Capitol Building as part of his weekly briefing concerning the coronavirus.
He was joined by state epidemiologist Dr. Angela C Dunn, Dr. Tom Miller of the University of Utah and Lexi Cunningham of the Salt Lake City School District.
Dunn started things off by citing several changes have occurred on the Utah Department of Health’s Web site.
The front page now consists of total cases, total people tested, total tests reported, total covid-19 hospitalizations and total deaths.
Dunn explained this is because antigen testing has now been added and is reflected in Thursday’s totals.
Reportedly, 251 of the 954 new cases (31,845 total cases were recorded Thursday) recorded Thursday are the result of antigen testing.
This, Dunn said, has occurred in some Utah labs since early June. Dunn said the Utah Department of Health has reviewed the accuracy of antigen test data.
These results are being included in the daily count of both positive and negative cases and will be so moving forward.
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests tell you if you have covid-19 as do antigen tests, Dunn confirmed.
A PCR test, she continued, identifies an infection by detecting viral RNA, an antigen test identifying infection by detecting a protein that is part of the covid-19 virus.
Both tests are conducted by a nasal swab. Antigen tests, Dunn said, can return results more swiftly than PCR tests.
Dunn also explained that an electronic data reporting delay resulted in an additional 50 cases being added to Thursday’s total during the first week of July. Furthermore, she continued, 246 cases diagnosed earlier this week are being added to Thursday’s totals.
She said the “trends” tab on coronavirus.utah.gov is where the latest information can be seen.
Of the 31,845 recorded cases as of Thursday, 19,214 of those are recovered cases of covid-19 in the Beehive State. This is an increase of 621 recoveries in the past 24 hours and a net increase of 139 recoveries in the same span.
Currently, 60.33 percent of covid-19 cases in Utah are recovered.
There are 12,398 current active cases of covid-19 in the Beehive State. This is an increase of 332 active cases in the past 24 hours and a net increase of 321 active cases in the same span.
The current active case percentage of covid-19 in Utah is 38.93 percent.
Presently, there are 6,816 more recovered cases in Utah than active cases, a net increase of 289 in the past 24 hours.
Of the 1,956 recorded hospitalizations for covid-19 in the Beehive State, 199 are current. This is a net decrease of 5 in the past 24 hours, making the current covid-19 hospitalization percentage 10.17 percent.
There are 89 current covid-19 hospitalizations in ICU. This is a net increase of six in the past 24 hours. The current ICU covid-19 hospitalization percentage is 44.72 percent, significantly up from the 40.68 percentage it was at Wednesday.
One new death was attributed to covid-19 in Utah in the past 24 hours. This raised the death count to 234 deaths attributed to covid-19 in the Beehive State. The percentage dropped to 0.734 percent Thursday. Wednesday, this was at 0.754 percent.
Wasatch County, with the influx of new antigen statistics, saw an increase of seven covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising the number to 472 net cases. There is one new hospitalization in Wasatch County in the past 24 hours, raising the net total to 21 hospitalizations. The death total (4) remains unchanged in the past 24 hours. The most recent death attributed to covid-19 in Wasatch County occurred July 6.
In his remarks, Herbert said the state is working to shorten the time to get tests back. This is something Utah State Senate President J. Stuart Adams of Layton has also advocated for.
Herbert exhorted Utahns to watch themselves and stated he will allow the Salt Lake City School District to open schools up despite their “orange status” under his Utah Leads Together coronavirus task force plan.
In questions from media, Herbert confirmed that while he and Salt Lake City mayor Erin Mendenhall disagree on this point, he stated that it is of paramount importance that students go back to school this fall.
Herbert reminded school districts and schools, during his remarks, that plans for opening for the fall must be received by the state of Utah by August 1.
Herbert said that when students eat lunch, masks will not be required. However, he continued, it is expected that social distancing occur in the lunchroom during this time.
Dr. Miller, in his remarks, reminded Utahns to be “mask missionaries” and Cunningham lauded the importance of good hygiene for students during these times.
