Doctor says unmasked children will transmit Delta variant to each other

FILE PHOTO - coronavirus variants

There were sobering remarks during an online media event Friday when an Intermountain Medical Center infectious diseases doctor said when unmasked children return to school this fall they will transmit the Delta variant to each other.

You’re going to see this virus transmit in schools,” said Dr. Eddie Stenehjem. “And then these children are going to take the virus back to their homes and transmit it to susceptible parents and susceptible grandparents. That’s just a fact.”

The doctor’s recommendation that kid’s wear masks in school is in opposition to a recent bill that bans mask mandates in Utah.

Friday’s COVID report from the Utah Health Department managed to surpass the 1,113 coronavirus cases found in Utah 24 hours earlier. The 1,211 new infections Friday are the most in one day since early February.

With more than 2,300 new cases the last two days the state’s new rolling seven day average of new cases has climbed to 755 a day.

The Bear River Health Department reported 55 new COVID cases in northern Utah Friday while the district’s total cases number 23,088. Those considered “recovered” by the state amount to 22,503.

There was one new COVID death reported statewide Friday and there have been 2,451 total deaths in Utah since the start of the pandemic, including 114 in Cache, Box Elder and Rich counties.

Just over 2.9 million Utahns have been tested for coronavirus and 5.3 million tests have been administered in the state since the start of the pandemic. More than 7,589 people were tested for the first time since Thursday and 12,646 total tests were administered during that time.

The number of fully vaccinated Utahns has grown to 1.478 million.

Statewide there are 351 COVID hospitalizations which is two fewer than Thursday and 152 of those patients are in intensive care units, four fewer than Thursday. To date 18,567 Utahns have been hospitalized with the virus. That includes 1,002 in the Bear River Health District.

As of Friday in Idaho 2,195 people have lost their lives to the virus. The state’s total of confirmed COVID-19 cases is approaching two million (199,955). Case counts in the three counties in southeast Idaho include 1,257 positive cases in Franklin County, 420 in Bear Lake County and 378 in Oneida County.

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5 Comments

  • Lynn July 30, 2021 at 8:44 pm Reply

    I have a hard time believing that they actually know any of this about its transmission in adults much less children. I don’t believe anything they say about anything anymore. They have never been right since they have started trying to convince people what they needed to do. People should be using common sense and should be treating Covid like any other virus, but they have convinced people that we can’t make any decisions for ourselves.

  • Corey July 31, 2021 at 11:08 am Reply

    Ask the doctor what test they are using to identify the delta variant.

    • Anne T Dote August 3, 2021 at 6:44 pm Reply

      It’s already been asked to 6 different doctors at Logan Regional what test they use to determine the “delta variant” and this was their response: “we don’t have a test to determine if it is or not, we’re trained to treat every covid-positive person with the same protocol as if they have Covid-19”.
      I love how the news is spewing new cases of said variant when they don’t even have a way to test for it.
      Fear-mongering much?

  • Anne T Dote August 3, 2021 at 6:50 pm Reply

    Oh no, how horrible. These poor children are going to have natural immunity to yet another illness. 😱

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