Utah recently made changes to its Coronavirus website. You can learn more about those changes as well as other COVID-19 resources helpful in our community.
On October 15th the state of Utah changed from the color-coded risk categorization to instead a data-driven transmission index:
https://coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels/
This new methodology is based on specific metrics to track how much COVID is spreading within each county. Guidelines for behaviors for businesses and individuals in those counties are then dependent upon what level of transmission is currently happening in their area. This is a much more specific and quantifiable set of metrics than the previous color-coded system when the decision to move between one color and the other was not well defined. Currently, most of the state is experiencing high levels of transmission. Most concerning is the increase in hospitalizations. Canyon View has been overwhelmed with the amount of testing we have been doing in our Urgent Care at each of our Family Medicine locations, but when the hospitals and ICUs get overwhelmed there are much more dire consequences for patient safety and mortality.
The state provides a very useful Coronavirus Case Counts website:
https://coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts/
This site lets you watch the trends of what is happening with people becoming infected with COVID-19.
To help you navigate the website you can watch their tutorial video:
The Utah County Health Department also maintains a website:
http://utahcounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4e80b936cd764d7fb7c5cf5332c2dbaf
The site gives case counts on a city level basis. This is especially helpful to distinguish between cities that share zip codes.
Lastly, the Nebo School District has a website:
The school district site showcases counts by school so you can monitor what is happening in your child’s school. We encourage you to utilize these resources to keep track of what is happening in your community.
Canyon View Medical Group is committed to Caring for our Community. We are doing all we can to keep up with the demand for COVID testing at our facilities. We have increased our staffing and the number of providers available to help while we are experiencing this surge. We have also been working to streamline our processes to make things more efficient. We acknowledge there are some times that our wait times get longer than we would like. We apologize for this. Please be patient with us as we try to take care of everyone’s healthcare needs whether it is for COVID-related items or regular healthcare needs.
At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a lot of fear of this new virus. This led to most people being willing to take extra precautions. However, as time has gone on, fear is being replaced by fatigue, and compliance with safety measures has waned. People are just sick of this. Unfortunately, this virus will only further exploit the fatigue and use our lack of vigilance to its advantage leading to further infection. Our public health officials tell they are seeing a significant rise in the number of cases coming from social gatherings. We encourage everyone to not let your guard down simply because you are with friends, neighbors, or extended family who you know and trust. Please remain vigilant about wearing a mask, washing your hands, and watching your distance. These are the most helpful things you can do to prevent the spread of infection.
Please visit https://coronavirus.utah.gov/protect-yourself/ for further information on what you can do to protect yourself and your family members from COVID-19.
