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It’s Saturday, April 11. We’ll provide the latest coronavirus updates involving Utah throughout the day.
[Read complete coronavirus coverage here.]
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12:15 p.m.: Another Utahn has died from COVID-19; state now has 2,206 confirmed cases of the virus
Another Utahn has died from the coronavirus, the Utah Department of Health announced on Saturday.
The fatality brings the state’s death toll to 18, after four deaths were added to the count on Friday.
The patient was a Wasatch County man older than 60 who had been fighting the virus at a Salt Lake City hospital for nine days, a spokesman for that county’s health department said. The man also had underlying health conditions.Wasatch County Health Director Randall Probst offered condolences to the man’s family.
“Our community here in Wasatch County is like family and we are very saddened to lose one of our residents,” Probst said in a statement issued late Friday.
The health department’s updated report shows the total number of coronavirus cases had risen to 2,206 by Saturday, roughly a 5% increase from the day before. Hospitalizations statewide from COVID-19 stood at 190, up by seven cases since Friday.
Salt Lake County — which has led all 29 counties for confirmed cases since the virus began spread in Utah — is now reporting 1,071 cases, with a gain of 60 cases in one day.
— Tony Semerad
10:10 a.m.: Intermountain Healthcare will send two 50-member COVID-19 response teams to New York as virus surge continues there
Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare announced Saturday it is sending two COVID-19 response teams to help at New York hospitals experiencing severe staffing shortages due to the pandemic.
The two 50-member teams of volunteers will be deployed for two weeks at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Northwell Health, both in the New York City area, starting early next week.
In return, an Intermountain spokesman said the New York health systems will try to return the favor by supporting Utah caregivers when the Beehive State faces its surge of COVID-19 patients, likely sometime in the next two months.
The teams were created, Intermountain said, after hundreds of the medical providers and clinicians said they wanted to help their counterparts in other states as they struggle to treat rising numbers of COVID-19 cases.
“I’m incredibly proud that so many of our caregivers want to help others in need, and we have the capacity right now to share our staff with others in the middle of their COVID-19 surge,” physician Paul Krakovitz, Intermountain’s chief medical officer for specialty based care, said in a statement.
"Not only will they provide care for patients in New York, they will bring back knowledge and experience to share with their Utah colleagues that will help us serve Utah patients,” Krakovitz said.
The first of the teams — made up of doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, respiratory therapists and other caregivers — will depart Salt Lake City on Tuesday to assist at Northwell Health, a system of 23 hospitals and hundreds of clinics across New York City, Long Island and Westchester.
Intermountain said it caregivers will return when Utah’s surge in cases begins and “help is needed most,” which experts say is now anticipated in May or June.
The latest reports Saturday showed New York continues to be a worldwide epicenter of the coronavirus, with 172,358 confirmed cases and nearly 7,844 deaths so far.
Utah’s count of COVID-19 cases, meanwhile, stood at 2,102 as of late Friday, with 183 people hospitalized and 17 deaths.
— Tony Semerad
9:30 a.m.: Davis Hospital releases its first COVID-19 patient, who is now recovering at home
The first COVID-19-infected patient treated at Davis Hospital in Layton is now recovering at home and “getting better every day,” according to a statement.
The patient, whose name, age, gender and location were not being released, had suffered from a respiratory illness for two weeks when their shortness of breath, cough and extreme fatigue worsened, hospital officials said.
They exhibited no fever but the patient was hospitalized for pneumonia and doctors deemed the patient’s travel history reason enough to test for COVID-19, the hospital said.
After four days of treatment and two weeks of isolation followed by self-quarantine at home, the patient received a clean bill of health on Monday, Davis Hospital said.
“It’s been a slow recovery process, but I’m getting there,” the patient said in a statement released by the hospital late Friday. “I’m looking forward to putting this all behind and getting use to a new normal.”
The patient, a frequent traveler, said they were “very diligent about using appropriate precautions and I still got it.”
They called self-quarantining “challenging but necessary to protect others,” saying it involved being confined to a single bedroom while being cared for by a partner, who has shown no signs of the disease.
“This will change me forever,” the patient said. “I think it’s going to take a long time for me to get comfortable again with going out in public, traveling or gathering with a large group of friends.”
The patient, who called COVID-19 “the illness of a lifetime,” said they wanted to share parts of their story as a reminder to others to follow social distancing guidelines.
“I want to emphasize the importance of staying in and staying safe,” they said in the statement. “Please comply with all precautions so you don’t give the illness to anyone else who may not be able to recover.”
A nurse practitioner who treated the patient also had a message for the public, the hospital said.
“I’m not afraid to care for my patients, but I am very careful,” the nurse said. “Knowledge gives me comfort and confidence in treating people. It’s reassuring to see how proper treatment of the virus leads to a livable outcome.”
— Tony Semerad