In the midst of another COVID-19 surge, doctors beg Utahns to be vaccinated

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The number of Utahn hospitalized in COVID-19 has skyrocketed in the past two weeks, with leaders of the state’s four major hospital systems working together on Wednesday to urge people to vaccinate.

“We have the definitive tool to end the pandemic,” said Dr. Kensie Graves, Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the University of Utah’s Inpatient Care. “We have the definitive tools to care for each other and save each other. That’s the vaccine.”

The Utah Department of Health reported on Wednesday that 260 Utah states were hospitalized with COVID-19. On June 21, 16 days ago, the number was 150.

UDOH reported 394 new cases of COVID-19 in the state on Wednesday, and two more Utahns (both in Iron County) died of the disease.

Dr. Aalenjaretto, Chief Medical Officer of Steward Health, Utah, said at an online press conference that the number of COVID-19 patients among the five Steward hospitals in the state increased by 110% (more than double) in two weeks. I said I did. It has remained at that level before and since then.

“In other words, our census of COVID patients is about the same level as the worst of the winter surge,” said Jarrett.

According to Jarrett, the intensive care unit capacity of Steward’s hospital is 80%. Not all of those ICU beds are filled with COVID-19 patients, he said. The majority have recovered from accidents and surgery, and some have been delayed due to pandemics.

Most Utah hospitalized COVID-19 patients (about 93%) are not vaccinated, said Dr. Michel Hoffman, deputy director of the Utah Department of Health. Dr. Mike Baumann, Chief Medical Officer at MountainStar Healthcare, quoted a number at one location, the Ogden Regional Hospital. The hospital saw 35 COVID-19 patients during June, Baumann said. Of them, 33 were unvaccinated. One was receiving one of two doses. One was the so-called “breakthrough” case, which was completely vaccinated and still infected with COVID-19.

Hospital leaders said the state was unlikely to return to previous restrictions to contain the spread of the virus, as the vaccine became readily available.

“We are past the point of mask obligations and social distance obligations,” Jarrett said. “I think it’s behind us.”

Jarrett added that government policy “helps advance vaccination programs.” Some people cannot take time off from work to get the vaccine, and others do not have the means of transportation to get to the vaccination site. “We were able to do a lot to remove those barriers.”

Vaccine dose given in the last day / total dose given • 5,138 / 2,890,094.

Fully vaccinated Utahns • 1,420,408.

Cases reported in the last day • 394.

Deaths reported in the last day • Two men and women aged 45 to 64, respectively, in Iron County.

Tests reported in the last day • 3,619 people were tested for the first time. A total of 6,632 people were tested.

Hospitalizations reported in the last day • 260. 14 less than Tuesday. Of the patients currently hospitalized, 85 are in the intensive care unit, seven fewer than on Tuesday.

Percentage of positive tests • According to the state-specific method, the percentage is 10.9%. This is lower than the 7-day average of 11.8%.

The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests for the same individual. The interest rate on Wednesday was 5.9%, lower than the 7-day average of 7.9%.

[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]

Total up to now • 417,653 cases; 2,387 deaths. 17,690 hospitalizations; 2,816,448 tested.

This story is under development and will be updated.