![]() ![]() Remote work became the new normal for those fortunate enough to have jobs that accommodate it, but pandemic-related shutdowns impacted low-wage workers much more severely than upper income earners. Congress pumped billions into the economy via a series of stimulus packages, including via direct cash payments to tax filers, and Utah saw over $5 billion worth of aid flow into the state. Restrictions and behavior changes wrought by COVID-19 led to thousands of Utah businesses and tens of thousands of Utah workers watching their incomes evaporate as local, state and federal leaders worked to find and disburse financial help to those in need. Other issues arose around no-bid contracts for COVID-19 testing and tracking efforts awarded amid emergency conditions and efforts to manage health care resources to keep up with rising case counts, a problem that’s been more about staffing than available beds.īut as the year closes out, some glimmer of a tide change is on the horizon as the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine go to front-line workers and plans are solidified to inoculate enough people to put this version of the virus at bay. The Democratic mayors of Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County, Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Mayor Jenny Wilson, respectively, were at loggerheads with Herbert, wanting to see more decisive action on behalf of the Utah city and county seeing the highest number of COVID-19 incidents. Utah lagged behind most other states in instituting restrictions to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus and lawmakers leveraged rule-making to draw lines around Gov. “Public health officials seem to be doing everything they can to emphasize that this should not be a political issue and yet it has been politicized,” said Chris Karpowitz, co-director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at BYU. It resumed some weekly services in September, but with restrictions and some hybrid and virtual meetings.ĭonning a mask to limit the airborne spread of the COVID-19 virus, a practice confirmed effective by health experts around the world, became a partisan issue in Utah and across the country. In March, most Utah churches temporarily canceled services, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which canceled all meetings and activities worldwide - something the church hadn’t done since the flu pandemic of 1918-19. The first COVID-19 patient treated in Utah was reported in late February and, as the public health threat expanded, Utah government and community leaders faced the same struggles in navigating the crisis as the rest of the world. On the day after Christmas, Utah was reporting more than 264,000 confirmed cases, more than 10,500 hospitalizations and 1,212 deaths. counties when ranked by total number of cases. Salt Lake County is also high on the list of U.S. Utah is among states with the highest incident rates, with a COVID-19 infection rate of over 62 per 100,000 residents as of Saturday, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. 18 and the highest number of reported COVID-19 deaths in the country in a single day of 3,401. Grim records have been set in December, including the highest number of new cases in a single day in the U.S. 6 months since everything changed, what have we learned and what’s next?.Coronavirus in Utah: Why the Beehive State is one of the last in the nation without a stay-at-home order. ![]()
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