Hospitalizations in Utah hit a new high on Saturday with 2,043 more cases and 14 deaths

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The death toll from the virus in Utah remained in double digits on Saturday – and medical staff are wary of more to come as the number of people hospitalized with the disease also set a new high.

The Utah Department of Health reported that 14 more people have died from the virus, including three younger people between the ages of 25 and 44. It comes after a daily record of 26 deaths on Wednesday and another 15 on Friday.

There have now been a total of 863 deaths in the state with these additions on Saturday:

In addition, Saturday brought a daily high of 573 people to hospitals and intensive care units across the state, surpassing the previous cap of 570 set earlier this week. This puts the state up to the functional capacity of nurses and doctors available to care for patients, although there are still some unused beds.

As a result, care has already been informally rationed. And if the number of people hospitalized continues to increase, staff will not be able to help everyone. Patients will be sorted based on who is most likely to survive. This is likely to happen because the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Utah has not fallen below 400 since before November 6.

A total of 8,029 people in the state have been in hospital with the disease since the start of the pandemic. This is about 1,000 more than just a week ago.

Among those hospitalized, 36% are over 65 years old. The age group has a 5% death rate from the disease compared to 0.4% in the general population of Utah. If you count those over 85, it rises to over 13%.

Staff are extremely worried as the numbers continue their steep, mountainous trend and people gather for the holidays.

Dr Angela Dunn, the state epidemiologist, urged in a tweet earlier this week: “We can find ways to enjoy the holidays AND save our hospitals. It’s not just about YOU. It’s about us. “

“What we’re doing this weekend will have lasting effects throughout the month of December,” added Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, infectious disease physician at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. He has already warned of overwhelmed hospital staff.

The state, in total, reported 2,043 new cases on Saturday. It’s less than usual, in part because of the holidays and limited testing. Today’s numbers show fewer people were also tested, falling to 7,443.

Over the past few weeks, an average of 14,000 Utahns are tested per day.

Meanwhile, the 7-day moving average for positive tests is 2,575 per day. And that puts the weekly positivity rate at 21.4%, which is a drop – but again, probably artificial.

The rate was 3,229 cases per day last Saturday with a positivity of 23.7%.

The drop also coincides with Gov. Gary Herbert’s roughly three-week mark implementing a statewide mask tenure. Experts say this helps, but several protesters took to Salt Lake County stores on Saturday, rallying against the order.

According to accounts on social media, groups broke into the doors of Harmon’s and Walmart, shouting about freedom. For the most part, the store staff responded politely, “Merry Christmas!”