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Show A-2 The Park Record The Park Record. Serving Summit County since 1880 The Park Record, Park City’s No. 1 source for local news, opinion and advertising, is available for home delivery in Summit, Wasatch, Salt Lake, Davis and Utah counties. Single copies are also available at 116 locations throughout Park City, Heber City, Summit County and Salt Lake City. SUBSCRIPTION RATES In Summit County (home delivery): $56 per year (includes Sunday editions of The Salt Lake Tribune) Outside Summit County (home delivery available in Wasatch, Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties; all other addresses will be mailed via the U.S. Postal Service): $80 per year To subscribe please call 435–649– 9014 or visit www.parkrecord.com and click the Subscribe link in the Reader Tools section of the toolbar at the bottom of the page. To report a missing paper, please call 801–204–6100. 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Phone: 435–649–9014 Fax: 435–649–4942 Email: circulation@parkrecord.com Wed/Thurs/Fri, November 4-6, 2020 Official: State hospitalizations ‘beyond alarming’ Health care systems are preparing to ration care if case growth continues ALEXANDER CRAMER The Park Record Echoes of March and April are being felt in November as the COVID-19 situation in Summit County, like in Utah and the nation at large, approaches what happened in the early days of the pandemic: a seemingly out-of-control spike in cases and officials warning of catastrophic consequences if the disease’s spread isn’t checked. Scientists, though, have now had several months to study the virus. Public warnings have become more specific, both about what to do to bend the curve — masks, distancing, handwashing — and what happens if the number of new cases continues to grow, with overcrowding at hospitals leading to the potential of diminished levels of care for all patients. The Summit County Board of Health on Monday heard from an Intermountain Healthcare official who reported that 93% of the intensive care unit beds were full at the hospital system’s five COVID-centric hospitals, and that new patients coming into the state’s hospitals are exceeding the rate of patients being discharged. Members of the public should wear masks, maintain social distance and wash their hands often, officials said, repeating the same refrain that they’ve offered for months. Accompanying that guidance Monday was a sense of the consequences of what would happen if the state is unable to slow the virus’ spread. As of Sunday, 1,647 new cases statewide were being reported daily, according to a seven-day rolling average. Dr. Paul Krakovitz was invited to address the Board of Health Monday. He is vice president and chief medical officer for specialty-based care at In- Continued from A-1 Quarantine delays count to work. As of Tuesday morning, county officials were awaiting the result of a COVID-19 test for the staffer who was exposed to determine how to proceed and the length of the quarantine. Clerk’s Office employees initially expected to quarantine through Friday, a determination made in conjunction with the Summit County health director and nursing director, Siddoway said. Jones reported Tuesday morning that he was feeling fine and did not have symptoms of COVID-19. The county did not release information about the person who had been exposed to the virus, but Sid- Continued from A-1 A decade of donating Published every Wednesday and Saturday Direct Importer of the World’s Finest Rugs A t t h e H i s t o r i c Vi l l a T h e a t r e 3092 So. Highland Dr., Salt Lake City (801)484-6364 888.445.RUGS (7847) Mon.-Sat. 10 am to 6 pm termountain Healthcare. “The case counts that are happening in Summit County and the case counts that are happening around the state are beyond alarming,” Krakovitz said. “... When it gets above 85% (of capacity being used) in our ICUs, that’s when we really start to get nervous about our supply. We are now in the 90s at Intermountain. So, I want to be clear: Last time I looked, we were at 93% occupancy in our ICUs. Now, when that number gets that high, it affects our ability to be able to take care of other patients. We are not doing that yet.” The state’s other large health care system, University of Utah Health, has reported similar numbers in recent weeks. Krakovitz went on to clarify that the 93% utilization rate referred to the intensive care units at the five Intermountain hospitals that have been designated to receive the most seriously ill COVID patients, and was not a systemwide number. The system has 23 total hospitals, including Park City Hospital. Total intensive care utilization statewide climbed above 75% last week, according to Summit County Health Director Rich Bullough. Krakovitz described the steps Intermountain would take before it would be forced to alter the level of care it delivers patients, something that has been referred to as rationing care. The mitigation efforts start with altering schedules and escalate to moving patients between hospital departments to moving patients between hospitals, then moving patients between hospital systems, then converting areas of the hospitals into makeshift wards, and then finally into a crisis level of care in which hospitals would be forced to change the way they take care of patients. Krakovitz indicated Intermountain was already moving patients to different hospital systems, a complicated step that shows the hospital system is getting closer to contingency and crisis levels of care. “We are not in a crisis in our hospitals, meaning we’re still giving the same care that we always give,” Krakovitz said. “But if the demand keeps outstripping the supply of what we can provide in our hospital, that’s going to change.” The warning came on the heels of record-setting numbers of new COVID cases in Summit County. County Epidemiologist Louise Saw reported consecutive days of 31, 30 and 36 cases; the previous high was 30 new cases on March 22. Saw said the percent of COVID tests returning positive results was at a seven-day average of 16%, but had recently hit a daily high of 23.8% Bullough told the Board of Health the increase in new cases was largely being driven by small gatherings or family groups. New state guidelines mandate masks in all but six of Utah’s 29 counties and limit social gatherings to 10 people. Ilyssa Golding, the chair of the Board of Health, asked Bullough about further steps that could be taken to stem the spread of the virus, like imposing a stay-at-home order or closing down businesses as was done earlier in the year. “We know it works, even if we don’t have the data,” Golding said. “So, we’re kind of running out of options here.” Bullough said that the contact tracing data does not tie the disease’s spread to any particular business sector, like bars or fitness centers. If that link was there, he said he would consider mitigation steps like increased regulations or seeking permission to shut down those industries. But absent that data, Bullough said he does not think such a move would be justified. Deputy Health Director Phil Bondurant added that shutting down a business based on anecdotal evidence rather than hard data would go against the Health Department’s data-first approach. “Whether or not we believe that there are exposures occurring in those businesses, if we start considering closures of businesses without data and we do close them, we may not see an impact on our numbers and we have essentially impacted the livelihood of somebody, the ability to earn money and feed their family. ... That, to me, is almost shooting from the hip,” Bondurant said. “I don’t think we’re in a position, as Rich has said, to do that as a health department.” In the months since the pandemic began, there has been resistance against governmental efforts to control the pandemic, with anti-mask protests and movements in the state Legislature to wrest control away from Gov. Gary Herbert and local health officers. Bullough indicated Monday that even if he wanted to order another shutdown, he would not be able to. “It’s going to be extremely, extremely difficult to go back to a closure. We are as a society in a different place right now than we were in March,” Bullough said. “We are also, we have additional information about COVID than we did in March. And we also have a change in laws. When I issued that initial closure, I had the authority to do so. I no longer have that authority.” Bullough and Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson later clarified that local health officers are still empowered to shut down individual businesses for violating public health orders, as happens when a restaurant does not comply with certain regulations, for example. Broader measures, like stay-athome orders or shuttering entire industries, would need the authorization of elected officials, including the Summit County Council and the Governor’s Office, or the Utah Department of Health. “That doesn’t mean that there aren’t additional regulations coming,” Bullough said. “And I can say that there are ongoing continuous discussions at the state level about further restrictions.” doway said the test was sought because of exposure to a known case of COVID-19 rather than the onset of symptoms. The county adapted to fill the Election Day roles normally accomplished by members of the Clerk’s Office. The drive-through voting site was staffed by county personnel from outside the Clerk’s Office, and no one who was under quarantine or who was known to have been potentially exposed was at the location, officials said. Summit County Sheriff’s Office deputies were slated to travel around the county to retrieve ballots from all seven drop boxes. The county also called in election workers who have worked in previous elections. Voters were still able to use the drive-through voting location at the Summit County Fairgrounds on Election Day and drop their ballots off at drop boxes by 8 p.m. Tuesday. Jones reported Tuesday morning that about 15 to 20 vehicles were lined up when the site opened at 7 a.m. and that there was a relatively constant stream of vehicles going through the site through the morning. Siddoway added that there is no concern the exposure came from in-person early voting or from ballots that were returned to the Clerk’s Office. “There’s no reason to believe at this time that anyone in the Clerk’s Office was not taking all precautions necessary to avoid COVID,” Siddoway said. “Our understanding is they were wearing masks, doing everything they were supposed to do, in addition to some extra steps to process ballots.” Officials were allowing ballots to quarantine for a day before processing them to avoid the risk that the ballots themselves would be vectors of COVID-19. Election results are officially accepted by an executive body a few weeks after an election — in this case the Summit County Council — in what’s known as a canvass. The date is set by state officials, and will occur on Nov. 17. Siddoway stressed that all Summit County votes would be counted by that deadline and that the temporary quarantine would not impact election results. It may, however, lengthen the un- certainty for candidates in tight local races, including state House District 54, which was decided by 162 votes in 2018, and in local school board races, which are divided by geographical boundaries that include many fewer voters than countywide contests. Siddoway said county officials had been consulting with other county clerks in the state and the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, which runs Utah’s elections. Jones said staffers from the company that manufactures vote-counting machines were available to help tally ballots if necessary later this week. He said the county was receiving around 2,000 ballots daily and was on track to receive and process about 26,000 total before the quarantine knocked the process sideways. That would approximate the 90% turnout that he had predicted. While COVID-19 has forced some changes to how elections are conducted, Jones said his office routinely processes ballots after Election Day. He indicated that results from nearly 100% of Summit County votes could be available as soon as Monday. There will, however, be several socially distanced, in-person activities for volunteers and supporters to celebrate the day, she said. “Live PC, Give PC is kind of a scrappy, fun event, and we want to keep that tone intact,” Coleman said, adding that the activities will follow COVID safety protocols. One new attraction this year will be a vehicle parade that will wind through many Park City and Summit County neighborhoods. The parade will include sponsors and participating nonprofits. “One of the nonprofits is Mountain Town Music, and they will set up socially distanced, live music stops all over town,” Coleman said. In addition, Park City Community Foundation will debut a three-hour livestream on its website, she said. “The livestream will showcase the live music, interviews with donors and nonprofits and sponsors, and it will also give real-time donation updates,” Coleman said. “We’re thrilled that we’re going to make this happen in a time when so many other events have had to cancel.” For information about the Park City Community Foundation’s Live PC Give PC, visit, livepcgivepc.org. |