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.