COVID-19 cases continue to rise as hospitals warn of capacity shortage
By Josh Warburton and @KanabCovid19
COVID Numbers Still On the Rise
Last week on July 21, 2020, Kane county added 18 COVID-19 cases in one week for a total of 38 cases (last week’s article reported 17 cases because at the time the health department had a backlog and another case was added for 7/20). Today on July 28, 2020, Kane county added 14 cases in the last 8 days as reported by the Southwest Utah Public Health Department (https://swuhealth.org/covid/). This represents a 36% increase. Kane county doubled its case numbers in 13 days; on July 16, 2020, Kane county had 26 cases, half our caseload today.
The number of active cases is 40, which means 1 in 197 people has COVID-19 in Kane county currently. Active cases are cases that are less than 21 days after their infection date. Anyone who is 3 weeks post-infection date is considered recovered, whether they are actually recovered or not. Remember though that likely the number of cases is much higher; a recent research article in the JAMA reported that the real numbers can be as high as 10 to 24 fold the reported numbers.
Although Kane county has fewer cases this past week, caution is still warranted. A doubling rate of 13 days is still quite steep, considering Washington county and Iron county have recently had doubling rates of 27 and 31 days retrospectively.
Local Doctors Make Public Plea
This past week, the doctors at Kane County Hospital released a statement which pleaded with Kane County residents to take social distancing, wearing face coverings, and handwashing seriously: “Please wear a mask for the ones you love, for grandparents, parents, and siblings. Wearing a mask is a simple way to aid in public health and protect those closest to us. If the number of cases continues to rise, the hospital system will face challenges in providing necessary care.”
Our local doctors warn us that while our local hospital can treat COVID-19 patients, those patients who need to be hospitalized in an ICU would need to go to Intermountain Dixie Regional Medical Center. They stated that Dixie is already near capacity because it takes in patients from Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. Dixie “may be unable to receive transfers in the future.”
Terri Draper, Communications Director for IDRMC, said they have a capacity of 32 ICU beds of 284 total licensed beds, and less than a quarter of the ICU beds are currently filled with COVID-19 patients. She said, “We’re doing better, early in July we had a week where they were nearly full.” She attributed this improvement to more people masking up. The number of “available” ICU beds is not something IDRMC is able to release since it is a constantly changing number but Draper added, “Today we’re doing well.”
For many, wearing a mask is inconvenient and uncomfortable. Virtually no one wants to do it. But right now, our doctors are asking everyone to mask up for the love of our community: “We urge all county members to please wear a mask in public for the health of those around you. Wearing a mask, along with frequent handwashing, social distancing, and staying home when ill is something we can do to flatten the curve and slow the spread.”
Information on Mask Wearing
If you don’t have a mask, there are plenty for sale online at places like etsy.com, or you might post on Kanab Classifieds because there are also people in town who make them. Some businesses are selling them for cheap or even giving them away to customers coming to shop, as Kanab Natural Market is doing. Honey’s Market is participating in Utah’s program to give a free mask to every person in Utah.
Here’s some helpful info on masks. If your glasses fog, try washing them with soap and water. Wash your mask frequently. Masks are not a replacement for social distancing, so keep up the distancing, handwashing, and use hand gels frequently.
Outside of Halloween, masks are not generally not much fun to wear; you can’t see people’s expressions, it’s hard to enunciate, and in general, it is just a pain. But it helps protect others from you in case you are infected. And remember, you can make others sick even though you have no symptoms or before you develop symptoms.
For information about COVID-19 and case numbers, visit https://swuhealth.org/covid/, https://coronavirus.utah.gov/. The Kane County COVID-19 Task Force publishes local information at https://kane.utah.gov/gov/dept/sheriff/emergency-services/coronavirus/. Locally the Facebook group Kanab Covid19 (https://www.facebook.com/groups/kanabcovid19) and its public Instagram @KanabCovid19 publish daily case numbers and charts.
