Coronavirus already here: Utah considering $16.5 million to fight it

Matt Rascon, left, Lori Prichard and Jed Boal, all of KSL-TV, Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, who is spearheading the Utah COVID-19 Community Task Force, and Carolyn Gonot, executive director at the Utah Transit Authority, far right, listen to Dr. Angela Dunn, state epidemiologist, fifth from left, during a KSL-TV roundtable discussion on the community’s response and preparedness for the coronavirus at the Triad Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 5, 2020. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

KSL-TV roundtable discussion designed to help public better understand COVID-19

SALT LAKE CITY — Serious cases of the coronavirus have been identified all over the globe, but officials believe mild versions are everywhere — even in Utah.

“We are definitely not picking up everybody with coronavirus,” Dr. Angela Dunn, state epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health said during a roundtable discussion Thursday. “There’s a lot of mild disease out there that we’re not catching.”

The state of Utah is preparing to spend up to $16.5 million to fight it.

KSL-TV brought together multiple people who are on the front lines of protecting Utah from the coronavirus for Thursday’s roundtable discussion.

Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox said Utah is well-prepared to take on the virus and its resulting disease, COVID-19.

“Being prepared is in our DNA,” he said.

Cox heads the governor’s newly formed task force that will deal with the novel coronavirus in Utah and decide how to spend what the Utah Legislature sets aside in the budget for it.

“This is an evolving and changing situation,” he said, adding that the state intends to not overwhelm medical facilities and “keep the loss of life low.”

Funds may be used to help hospitals cope with an unexpected influx of patients, but also provide accurate information to the public.

“Right now, we don’t know exactly how that will be done or what the need will be, but we’re ready,” Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said.

The state has some of the nation’s best medical care, he said, “so I think if we have a problem, we’ll have medical professionals that will be able to help us through that.”

Long lines have been forming at stores all over the country as people stock up on various items due to fear over the coronavirus.

“We see the toilet paper and the water being bought,” Adams said. “If the panic about it becomes worse than what it is and creates an additional challenge with our economy and other things ... I think we have to be careful.”

The disease, which stems from a virus that already presents itself in about a third of patients with the common cold, has what is believed to be a 14-day incubation period, where it is likely to be highly contagious and spreads easily. It has also been showing up differently in different people, depending on their age and health status, Dunn said.

The biggest risk factor for Utahns, she said, is still travel to one of the countries where transmission is widespread, including some cities in the United States.

“This is about science and not panic,” Cox said, adding that Utahns only need to stock up on things that they would need if they were quarantined for two weeks.

State officials aren’t restricting travel, but Dunn said that the coronavirus aside, people who are medically frail or have compromised immune systems should avoid popular gathering spots, such as Disneyland and others, particularly during a potentially crowded time like spring break.

Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Joe Dougherty, public information officer for the Utah Division of Emergency Management, speaks during a KSL-TV roundtable discussion on the community’s response and preparedness for the coronavirus at the Triad Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 5, 2020.

Even locally, tourism is likely the industry that is hardest hit by the coronavirus.

Natalie Gochnour, local economist and associate dean at the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, said that the economy was already slowing when coronavirus was first detected in China late last year. News of the illness generated an “economic shock,” which she said is caused by “something that comes from seemingly out of nowhere.”

“This will definitely slow the economy. But there are things we can do to lessen the impact.

“By preparing, we can weather the storm more easily,” Gochnour said during the KSL-TV roundtable, adding that “now is not the time to take on new debt.”

But of anywhere in the world, the U.S. or the Intermountain West, she said, “Utah is well-situated to weather this.”

People will probably not travel as much in the near future, and bookings at Utah’s historical sites and national parks are already down, said Nancy Volmer, public relations and marketing director for Salt Lake City Department of Airports.

She said Asian tourism has definitely declined, with China and Japan seeing large numbers of people infected with coronavirus and the resulting COVID-19. The Salt Lake City International Airport has not been named as one of high risk, but Volmer said they are working to inform passengers about what’s going on.

Anyone arriving to Utah after spending time on a cruise ship or in China’s Hubei province, Dunn said, is automatically quarantined until a blood test shows negative exposure to the virus.

“We are definitely out of the containment phase,” she said. “It’s here. We need to work on mitigation and preventing spread of this disease.”

The health department has started testing for the coronavirus locally, but that doesn’t mean a person experiencing symptoms, specifically mild ones, needs to be tested, Dunn said. There still isn’t any known or effective treatment and there is definitely not yet a vaccine available to prevent getting the disease.

Testing, Dunn said, should be reserved to serious cases of respiratory illness, and typically for more vulnerable, older or sicker individuals, as the over-65 population is where the coronavirus seems to be taking its greatest and most deadly aim.

“We are relying on the healthy, general public to stay home if they are sick and not run to the emergency department unless symptoms are uncontrollable,” she said, adding that they want to avoid overwhelming medical systems.

Utah’s population is unique in that it is mostly children, whereas China and Japan have much older populations, on average, Gochnour said. And children don’t seem to be getting severe disease from the novel coronavirus — this could prevent widespread transmission in the state, or help spread it to all the loving grandparents throughout Utah, she said.

While it might not become necessary, school districts across the state are “preparing for the worst,” said Mark Peterson, Utah Department of Education spokesman. The agency is trying to secure the funding it would need to make meals available for the 120,000 Utah students who rely on free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch on school days, should schools close.

Peterson said talks are ongoing with the Utah Education and Telehealth Network to also offer electronic options to continue instruction online, if it comes to that.

For now, though, districts are encouraging schools to teach and practice good hand-washing habits, which is what the health department and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also touting. The recommendation is to was hands for at least 20 seconds, or two lines of “Baby Shark,” Peterson said.

And, especially after touching surfaces and doorknobs used by others. The CDC also recommends that people avoid touching their face.

Various seminars and conferences have been canceled to avoid spread of illness. and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has canceled a training meeting for its international leadership, as well as has discouraged travel from infected locales to its upcoming session of general conference in April.

Utah Valley University’s men’s and women’s basketball games against Chicago State have been canceled this weekend, due to CSU’s travel concerns regarding the coronavirus in Washington, where it was slated to play after Utah.

And the Utah Legislature earlier this week instituted a handshake-free zone at the state Capitol to help curtail spread of illness.

“Everyone is clamoring for information,” said Joe Dougherty, spokesman for the Utah Division of Emergency Management. He said the state is working hard to “eliminate surprises” with coronavirus and to “be ready” should a state of emergency be declared.

Dougherty said toilet paper and bottled water aren’t the typical things people would need to weather a disease outbreak, but taking small steps to be prepared can help. The best practice, he said, is to stay calm.

“We need to get over this fear of COVID-19,” Dunn said. “It’s looking a lot like the flu ... just like any other respiratory illness.”

She said it remains unknown whether this strain of the coronavirus will be one that returns year after year, whether a vaccine can help prevent it, or if a person can develop immunity to it. It is also not known when it this coronavirus will run its course.

Like other SARS viruses, Dunn said that it will.

“Utah is in good position to weather this. And the United States of America is definitely at the top of the leaderboard.”

Julie Parker-Wing, for the Deseret News

Costco Warehouse members line up at the Sandy location before the 10 a.m. opening on Thursday, March 5, 2020. Long lines have been forming at stores all over the country as people stock up due to fear over the coronavirus.

KSL-TV intends to stream the roundtable discussion. A link will be posted once it is available to view.

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