SALT LAKE CITY – A new statewide health order in force until March 25 would no longer make the use of masks in counties designated as having low rates of COVID-19 transmission mandatory, since vaccine distribution in the state reaches about four times the current level.
Masks should now be used across the state indoors in public and outdoor environments when social distance is not possible, but that will change in low transmission counties eight weeks after Utah received 1,633,000 first doses of vaccine from the federal government, enough for about 70% of the state’s adults.
Currently, that number is just under 445,000, and it is unclear when the state hopes to achieve the target. But Governor Spencer Cox told Democrats in the Utah legislature on Tuesday that he wanted to address a bill that would put an end to public health emergency powers as soon as enough Utahns were vaccinated or had the virus.
The project sponsored by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, HB294, was presented in early February, but was not assigned to a committee for an audience.
“We wanted to be really intentional about it and really thought about it, and have some metrics in place to let everyone know what we’re looking for,” said Cox during a caucus meeting of Democrats in the House and Senate.
“At some point, we will cross that threshold so that everyone has the opportunity to get the vaccine to protect themselves,” said the governor, releasing the results of a new Deseret News / Hinckley Institute of Politics survey that showed 80% of the state believes that the vaccine distribution in Utah is fair.
Cox is predicting a steady increase in Utah’s vaccine quota and has already reduced the age of eligibility to 65 or older. On March 1, Utahns with specific medical conditions will also join health professionals, first responders, residents and staff from long-term care facilities and elementary and high school teachers and school staff on the list.
Rich Saunders, executive director of the Utah Department of Health, told the Democratic caucus that there must be an end in sight for the mask’s mandate.
“If we don’t know how it is, we won’t know when we will arrive. We have to be responsible to determine what we have to achieve in order to eliminate the masks, ”said Saunders. “This is one of the most controversial issues in the whole pandemic.”
He said that even after the limit is reached and the masks are no longer needed, they can still be used “and we will even encourage that for a while”.
The new health order arrives while the Utah Department of Health is reporting 716 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 additional deaths on Tuesday. The death toll in Utah has reached 1,865, and now more than 500,000 lives have been lost to the virus in the United States, a milestone marked by the lowering of state flags.
New directives as conditions change
As previously announced, there are changes in the way the level of transmission is determined by the state. Utah is now counting all the tests done by an individual to calculate the percentage of positive tests. Previously, only one test from an individual every 90 days was counted, resulting in a higher rate, so the acceptable range has been reduced.
In addition, people will be able to sit side by side in cinemas, sporting events, weddings, as well as concerts and other entertainment, as long as everyone wears masks and can attest to having no symptoms or exposure to COVID-19. Event organizers must be able to contact participants if someone at the event is positive.
At events, masks can be removed for eating or drinking, but social distance should be maintained from the separate parts during this time. Bars in counties with moderate transmission levels no longer need to limit the occupancy to 75%, and customers should only wear masks when they are less than 2 meters from a separate section.
For schools, the new order creates a test protocol so that school dances and other events can be hosted.
The “Test to Play” program for COVID-19 will now be required of all high school students who participate in school-sponsored extracurricular activities and students must follow the isolation and quarantine protocols found in the school manual.
The order also puts more emphasis on face-to-face learning, rather than schools switching to online teaching when certain limits are reached, which is what lawmakers have been pushing since Trump administration officials, Dr. Robert Redfield and Dr. Deborah Birx, visited Utah last winter. .
In the “Test to Stay” program, students with a positive test must move to remote learning for 10 days. Those who choose not to take the test may still have to give up on personal learning, depending on how many students are tested and the school’s positive test rate.
More information on the state’s transmission rate is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels. Five of Utah’s 29 counties are now at a low transmission level, Daggett, Garfield, Piute, Rich and Wayne, and eight are at the moderate level.
The new order, signed on Monday night by Saunders, replaces an earlier order that expired at midnight.
Later on Tuesday, Cox issued a new executive order on the state’s vaccination plan that now says the state health department will establish eligibility in consultation with the governor’s office. This will allow more Utahns to be added to the list, probably based on age, as more vaccines become available without a new order.
Warnings not to postpone medical care
Also on Tuesday, doctors at the University of Utah Health and Intermountain Healthcare urged Utahns to receive the medical care they need now, instead of postponing cancer tests like mammograms and colonoscopies, as well as other procedures because of the pandemic.
“This is no time to be late anymore. It’s time to put on a mask and get in, ”said Dr. Jose Rodriguez, professor of family medicine at the University of Utah Health, during a virtual news conference. He said there were some conflicting messages in the past because the appointments were canceled, but it is now safe to see a doctor in person.
More than 80% of the university’s doctors have been vaccinated, said Dr. Russell Vinik, director of medical operations at the University of Utah Health. Injections cannot be mandatory because the vaccine, authorized for emergency use, has not yet received full approval from the Federal Food and Drug Administration.
Vinik warned that waiting for tests can lead to “bad results” for patients when diseases are not detected early. The same applies to postponing children’s vaccinations, he said, because the last thing needed in a pandemic is “another outbreak of something easily preventable, like measles.”
Dr. Kirk Knowlton, director of cardiovascular research and associate chief of cardiology at the Intermountain Healthcare Heart Institute, said there are cases when people are afraid to go to the hospital when they are having a heart attack.
“If they are having a stroke, it is very important that they enter immediately. There are many stories of people who are unfortunately afraid to take COVID and wait. And they had a heart attack or some died at home, ”said Knowlton. “This is a real problem that we are very concerned about.”
Daily numbers
Utah reported having administered an additional 11,966 doses of vaccine since Monday, for a total of 623,876 first and second doses. The seven-day continuous average for positive tests is 779 per day, and another 6,458 Utahns have been tested and 18,480 tests performed.
The seven-day period for the percentage of positive tests when all tests are counted is 6.2%, the new method the state is using to help determine a county’s transmission level, and 13.34% if only a single test done by an individual over 90 the period of a day is counted.
There are 239 people hospitalized in Utah with COVID-19.
The 12 new deaths, including seven that occurred before February 1, are:
• A woman from Salt Lake County, over 85, residing in a long-term care institution
• A Utah county man, aged 65 to 84, residing in a long-term care institution
• A woman from Cache County, between 65 and 84 years old, residing in a long-term care institution
• A woman from Sevier County, over 85, not hospitalized at the time of death
• A woman from Davis County, between 65 and 84 years old, residing in a long-term care institution
• A Salt Lake County man, aged 65 to 84, who was not hospitalized at the time of death
• A man from Weber County, aged 65 to 84, hospitalized at the time of death
• A woman from Sevier County, over 85, residing in a long-term care institution
• A woman from Salt Lake County, aged 65 to 84, hospitalized at the time of death
• A man from Salt Lake County, between 65 and 84 years old, residing in a long-term care institution
• A man from Washington County, between 65 and 84 years old, residing in a long-term care institution
• A man from Davis County, between 45 and 64, hospitalized at the time of death
Contributing: Marjorie Cortez