Death isn’t only outcome of COVID-19, Herbert says in plea for Utahns to follow guidelines

Nurses Polly Crookston and Daniel Salas Jimenez work at a new COVID-19 testing site in the parking lot of Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. The testing site is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to noon. Appointments are required. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — After a week of record-breaking COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations, Gov. Gary Herbert on Tuesday again implored Utahns to follow the new restrictions and guidelines implemented two weeks ago, including a mask mandate for public gatherings and for social gatherings in most counties.

“Although most Utahns are taking the pandemic seriously, we understand that it still can be confusing to keep up with the newest updated information and the restrictions. We must all realize and remember that we all have a role to play, and we all need to do our part to do the best we can in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.”

“It is all about minimizing the risk of contracting the virus while we wait for the development of a vaccine,” Herbert said in a news conference in Spanish during which officials explained the state’s new transmission index in the pandemic to the Latino and Hispanic community.

Utah health officials reported 1,145 new COVID-19 cases and four additional deaths on Tuesday. The cases were confirmed out of 7,439 tests — a 15.4% positive rate, according to the Utah Department of Health. The rolling seven-day average for new cases is 1,507 per day, and the average positive test rate is 17.4%.

Currently, 296 patients are hospitalized with the disease in Utah, three fewer than were hospitalized on Monday. Overall intensive care unit usage fell slightly to 66.8%, and nonintensive care unit usage stood at 48.3%.

But the disease is still “spreading rapidly” in 21 of Utah’s 29 counties, Herbert noted, all of which are in the high transmission index with mask mandates for gatherings and limits on gatherings of more than 10 people.

The only counties in the moderate transmission level are Duchesne, Iron and Uintah, and the low transmission counties are Daggett, Kane, Piute, Rich and Wayne.

Though fewer than 1% of those who contract the illness in Utah will die from it, Herbert noted, “many others are now experiencing long-term complications” including damage to the heart, chronic inflammation of the sac that covers the heart, blood clots, lung damage and nervous system damage.

Some also experience loss of sense or smell for months after.

Herbert said his daughter who had COVID-19 more than three months ago “still doesn’t have her sense of smell totally back.” His 13-year-old granddaughter also lost her sense of smell and taste, Herbert said.

“If you can imagine, a 13-year-old girl is now losing weight because she becomes nauseated when she smells food. It is hard for her to eat, and there are some foods that she just cannot eat anymore,” Herbert said.

“I want to emphasize it’s just not the mortality rate that’s the concern, it is in fact what we don’t know about the long-term effects of the coronavirus and the debilitating impacts it has on people’s lives,” he said.

Herbert urged Utahns to follow the guidelines and requirements in their area, including the mask requirement.

“Our hospitals are nearing their full capacity both in treating COVID-19 patients and non-COVID-19 patients. This means that our hospitals are getting dangerously close to having to ration care as they try to provide quality care to all who need it,” Herbert said.

He said he still hasn’t issued a statewide mask mandate in an effort “to not have a one-size-fits-all approach. We’ve had many parts of our rural communities that have had very few instances, very few deaths, and it would seem inappropriate for them to have a higher restriction rate than their transmission rate would warrant.”

The state has seen 107,228 cases confirmed out of 1,044,695 people tested since the pandemic hit, a 10.3% positive rate. COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state now total 5,169.

The four deaths reported Tuesday bring the state’s toll to 578. They were: a Washington County woman between 65 and 84, who was a long-term care resident; a Tooele County man between 45 and 64, who was hospitalized when he died; a Utah County man between 45 and 64, who was a long-term care resident; and a Cache County man between 65 and 84, who was hospitalized when he died.

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