Utah starts to reopen as number of coronavirus cases continues to rise

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Utah continued to rise on Sunday as the state lifts restrictions allowing some nonessential businesses to reopen. 

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) placed the state under “moderate risk” protocols starting Friday, allowing certain establishment including gyms and salons to reopen and restaurants to begin offering a dine-in option with precautions in place. 

The state is still recording new confirmed COVID-19 cases, however, with a total of 5,175 infections reported as of Sunday. 

The Utah Department of Health reported 194 new positive COVID-19 cases on Sunday, which is the largest daily jump in more than a month and the second-largest jump since 203 on April 2, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. 

White House guidelines recommend states and regions have a downward trajectory of documented COVID-19 cases within a 14-day period before reopening economies. 

The Utah Department of Health, however, expressed confidence in the state’s reopening approach.

“We hope, as everyone gets out more, that practicing social distancing and wearing masks as outlined by the governor and public health [officials], will keep our case rates in check,” Charla Haley, a department spokesperson, wrote Sunday in an email to the Tribune. 

Salt Lake County Health Department spokesman Nicholas Rupp told the newspaper that there could be an increase in cases if Utahans don’t wear face masks and maintain social distancing. 

“The only way this is going to work — to have business open, is if everybody does their part and wears their face coverings when they’re in public and stays 6 feet away from people not in their household,” he told the Tribune.