Mendenhall requests to move Salt Lake City back to orange phase amid COVID-19 surge

Sven Karabegovic holds his COVID-19 saliva test at a drive-thru test site at University of Utah Health’s South Jordan Health Center in South Jordan on Friday, Oct. 2, 2020. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — As Salt Lake County is again seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases — and reached its daily record for positives over the weekend — Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall on Tuesday requested to move the city back to the “orange” or moderate restriction phase in the pandemic.

“Our data’s continuing upward trend is alarming and swift action is necessary. The shift to orange should be a signal to Salt Lake City residents of the gravity of this situation,” Mendenhall said in a statement.

She said she hopes to “specifically target behaviors” that are leading to increased cases. A move to the moderate restriction level would again limit gatherings to 20 or fewer people.

“We want to continually adapt and evolve necessary precautions to net the public health benefits we need, so that we can impact these numbers without unnecessarily putting burdens on city residents and businesses. We all need to stay safe to keep businesses open,” Mendenhall said.

Utah health officials reported 716 new COVID-19 cases and six deaths on Tuesday. It marked the first time in six days that fewer than 1,000 new cases were confirmed in the state.

Currently, 208 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Utah, 25 more than were hospitalized on Monday.

This story will be updated throughout the day.

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