Utah’s COVID-19 death toll reaches 1,500 with the opening of the mass vaccination site

SALT LAKE CITY – Joyce Durrant says Monday’s process was very simple.

“It was easy. No pain. No effort. Not at all.”

She was among the many residents of the Salt Lake area who were fortunate to make an appointment at the newly opened county mass vaccination clinic at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy on Monday.

The vaccination effort comes as the Utah Department of Health reported seven more deaths in Utah from COVID-19, bringing the state’s death toll to 1,500. The health department says there have been 324,919 positive cases for COVID-19 since the outbreak, with Utah adding 1,082 new cases to Monday’s report.

Across the state, there were 168,908 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered, with 16,399 more registered since Sunday. The health department says that 153,979 people received the first dose, and of those, 14,929 received the second dose.

The mass vaccine distribution site in Sandy, open by appointment only for people aged 70 and over, is the first vaccine launch in Salt Lake County for the general population, in an effort that should continue indefinitely – since there are doses to deliver.

Richard and Joyce Durrant were among those who received the vaccine at the exhibition center.

Richard Durrant said he was banned from working by his doctor, which has been difficult.

“I am very susceptible to COVID. I have hypertension, diabetes and arthritis, ”he said.

Durrant said he misses driving the bus and the camaraderie of his coworkers, so he hopes the vaccine will help him get a medical certificate to get back to work.

Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, who was at the exhibition center on Monday, said in a telephone interview with Deseret News that health professionals should deliver just under 1,000 doses to people by the end of the year. day.

Steve Griffin, Deseret News

“I wish we had more doses,” she said. “We could probably manage four times more than we can manage today.”

She said that large centers like the Mountain America location greatly increase the efficiency of the time spent for patients and healthcare professionals when it comes to administering the vaccine.

“It has worked very, very well,” she said, adding that people would come in and out of the center in about 20 minutes, including the 15-minute mandatory preventive wait after applying the vaccine to ensure that there were no adverse reaction effects.

“As with any vaccine, people get a little nervous, but they leave with big smiles on their faces,” said Wilson.

There are people available to help those who may be in a wheelchair or need other assistance, said the mayor, but many people are entering on their own.

Wilson said there will be other mass vaccination sites that will open, but those efforts are complicated by a reduction in the amount of vaccine available.

“Three percent of our population has been vaccinated so far, we want to get closer to 70%,” she said.

In Mountain America, Wilson suffocated when describing the deaths, the challenges of fighting the virus and the immense pressure it exerts on so many lives.

“This virus has turned us upside down as a community,” she said. “I think of the isolation of so many.”

Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson was also at the exhibition center, but she emphasized that it was not to look over the shoulder of Salt Lake County officials, but to impress them that the new government administration is protected.

“We are very impressed with the operation,” she said. “We’re here to help.”

Henderson added that the launch of the vaccine for the general population of Salt Lake County residents over the age of 70 marks progress on the road to preventing the deadly reach of the new coronavirus.

“It was a very brutal year,” she said. “And it is really exciting to see a way to end this pandemic.”

Steve Griffin, Deseret News

Bells to mark the state’s death toll

Also on Monday, Governor Spencer Cox ordered the bells on the state Capitol to ring at 3:30 pm Tuesday as part of a national COVID-19 memorial in honor of lost lives.

Cox said the bells will ring 15 times in memory of the 1,500 Utahns who have died since March last year.

“We will never forget the heavy toll that this deadly virus has caused in this state, and we pray for comfort and peace for the families and friends who are left behind,” said Cox. “We hope that all Utahns will come together to honor those we lost during this national moment of remembrance. ”

Monday Health Department Case Report

The state agency says 568 people remain hospitalized with the virus, with ICU beds at or near full capacity. The number of people who have been hospitalized in Utah since the outbreak is 12,576. The seven-day continuous average for positive tests is 2,154 per day, while the average for the percentage of positive laboratory tests is 21.1%.

Overall, 1,906,909 people in Utah have been tested for the virus, an increase from 4,649 tested since Sunday.

The seven deaths reported on Monday include four women:

• A resident of Weber County between 25 and 44 years of age hospitalized at the time of death.

• A Utah county resident between 25 and 44 years old was not hospitalized.

• A Utah county resident between 45 and 64 years of age hospitalized at the time of death.

• And a resident of Washington County between the ages of 45 and 64 years out of hospital.

Three men who died were:

• A Utah county resident between 25 and 44 years old was not hospitalized.

• A Washington County resident aged 65 to 84 years hospitalized at the time of death.

• A resident of Weber County between 65 and 84 who has not been hospitalized.