The Summit County Board of Health meeting on Monday. Photo: Summit County, Utah

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — During a coronavirus update at the Summit County Board of Health meeting on Monday, Health Director Dr. Phil Bondurant said the county is back to where it was prior to the Omicron surge that hit during the holiday season and the beginning of January.

At its height, Summit County had the fifth-highest rate COVID-19 per 100,000 residents, according to New York Times data. The top five at the time included two other ski towns, Jackson Hole and Aspen, along with New York City and Miami.

“We’re in really good shape. Things are trending in the right direction and in a positive light,” Bondurant said.

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Bondurant said the Covid conversation is heading towards a more “endemic phase.” (Photo: Summit County Health Department)

He clarified that the county is still offering testing, despite the state ending rapid Covid tests over the weekend due to concerns about accuracy.

Bondurant said the BinaxNOW tests that the county is using are different than those the state was using — GenBody antigen tests.

“We do suspect that with some of the larger sites in Salt Lake being suspended that we’ll see an increase in our testing demand up here,” Bondurant said. He said that testing demand locally has “dropped off significantly.”

In January, Gov. Spencer Cox and other state officials urged residents that are not high risk to not get tested, citing high demand and low supply.

“We are encouraging all Summit County residents to be tested if you feel the need,” Bondurant said on Monday.

The health director also noted at the meeting that the county has begun collaborating with the ski resorts to help facilitate exit strategies for international workers who require testing to fly home when the season ends.

Given the termination of the Summit County mask mandate by the Utah State Legislature last month, Bondurant concluded by saying that the health department has started the “process of transitioning out of a full pandemic response.”

Key variables to watch, Bondurant said, include hospitalizations and wastewater data.

COVID-19 is shed in feces by infected individuals. Virus concentrations in sewage can be measured by collecting a sample at the inlet of sewage treatment plants. This information provides a pooled indicator of the status and trends of COVID-19 infections in communities served by the treatment plant (the sewershed). (Photo: Summit County Health Department)

Summit County has seen 11 Covid hospitalizations in the last 30 days, with three of those patients being sent to the ICU. The county recorded its first Covid death (unvaccinated) since October on Jan. 8.

Update (5:11 pm): The Utah Department of Health reported two Summit County Covid deaths on Tuesday afternoon. Both of the women were between the ages of 64-84 and hospitalized at the time of their death.

“Things look really good moving into the springtime,” he said. 40% of eligible Summit County residents have received a booster shot.

709 patients are currently hospitalized statewide with Covid, down from the pandemic peak of 853 on Jan. 27. 30.5% of all Utahns 12 and older have received a booster.

The Board of Health will have a new member next month at its meeting, which comes at the selection of county manager Tom Fisher. Bondurant said the individual will be presented to the Summit County Council on Wednesday.