Infections diseases doctor says a bad winter and fall may be ahead

FILE PHOTO: Empty blood tube with Positive Coronavirus label. Photo by Prasesh Shiwakoti (Lomash)

During a virtual press conference Friday morning an Intermountain Healthcare infectious diseases doctor sounded a warning about what happens next with COVID.

We’re staring down the barrel of potentially a really bad fall and winter without a whole lot of relief unless something changes,” said Dr. Eddie Stenehjem. He said the surge in cases is due to the delta variant.

Friday’s Utah Department of Health report shows 897 Utahns tested positive for COVID-19 since Thursday, slightly more than 844 which is the current rolling seven-day average for new cases.

Total of cases in Utah during the pandemic is 444,385.

The new report indicates four more Utahns lost their lives to the virus since Thursday  while Utah’s  COVID death toll reached 2,525. There have been 118 coronavirus deaths in northern Utah.

Among the three northern counties in the Bear River Health District there were 28 new COVID cases. The district’s total case count stands at 23,692 and there are now 22,983 considered to be “recovered”. Within the district 1,056 people have been hospitalized over the course of the pandemic.

Currently 74,227 people in northern Utah are fully vaccinated. Nearly 160,000 vaccine doses have been administered in the district.

The state reported Friday that over 1.51 million Utahns are fully vaccinated.

There are 354 COVID patients hospitalized in Utah, 34 fewer than on Thursday and 136 are in intensive care units, 15 fewer than Thursday. Over the course of the pandemic 19,255 Utahns have been hospitalized with the virus. That includes 1,056 in the Bear River Health District.

As of Friday more than three million Utahns have been tested for coronavirus and 5.45 million tests have been administered in the state since the start of the pandemic. There were 6,670 people tested since Thursday and 11,404 total tests were administered over that time.

Idaho’s Friday COVID update lists 2,236 coronavirus deaths in the state. The new total of confirmed COVID-19 cases is 207,274. Case counts in the three counties in southeast Idaho include 1,276 positive cases in Franklin County, 435 in Bear Lake County and 391 in Oneida County.

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