SALT LAKE CITY — Thanksgiving is expected to lead to a nationwide spike in coronavirus infections, but in Utah, the holiday itself marked a new high point in hospitalizations and death from COVID-19.
Coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths climbed rapidly over three recent major holidays.
READ: Too early to tell if Utahns followed Thanksgiving health recommendations
Labor Day on Sept. 7 was a light day for COVID-19 patient numbers in Utah’s Intensive Care Units, which accounted for just 41 beds occupied.
On Halloween, that number was 130 coronavirus patients in the ICU.
By Thanksgiving, it was 211.
A published report this fall showed serious negative impacts on doctors and nurses working with COVID-19 patients in an intensive care setting. It reported high rates of acute stress, depression and anxiety brought on by the deluge of demands.
READ: Utah’s high schools are seeing more and bigger COVID-19 outbreaks
Deaths followed the hospitalizations closely with Labor Day seeing 2.4 average death per day. On Halloween, the average had more than doubled to 5.1 per day. By Thanksgiving, the average was 10.9.
Another way to mark the pace of COVID-19’s spread: it took 91 days from Utah’s first known infection for COVID-19 to kill 100 Utahns.
It took 11 days for Utah’s overall deaths to increase from 700 to 800.