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ST. GEORGE — Gov. Spencer Cox announced Friday that the state’s emergency response to COVID-19 will end March 31. 

That will include the end of statewide COVID-19 testing including the free testing sites like the one at Tech Ridge in St. George. Like testing for other diseases, testing will be limited to doctor’s offices, health clinics and pharmacies, as well as at-home tests.  

“It is now time to transfer from an emergency posture to a cautious posture,” Cox said during a press conference at the State Capitol in Salt Lake City. “Let me be clear, this is not the end of COVID, but it is the beginning of treating COVID like other respiratory viruses.”

Cox said he doesn’t like the medical term “endemic,” where disease is maintained at a baseline level, because he said that will be difficult for most people to understand. Instead, he said the state is doing a “six-week ramp back” to a “steady state model.”

Not addressed was whether statewide COVID-19 vaccination clinics will also come to an end. There was also no mention about the thousands of Utahns suffering through the condition known as long COVID-19, who are still seeing fatigue, shortness of breath and other debilitating symptoms long after infection.

The end of the emergency will come two years to the day that the previous Gov. Gary Gerbert started the emergency with the “Stay Safe, Stay Home” recommendation when Cox was lieutenant governor.

Since then, 583 Southern Utahans, 4,344 Utahns and more than 930,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 and local hospitals have seen their most crowded conditions in their history.  

Cox said now is the time to not just move on from COVID as a major emergency but also move on from many of the political divisions of the pandemic. He criticized both those who are too dismissive about COVID and those who he said are taking it “too seriously.”

“There are still people unvaccinated who need to take this a lot more seriously, and there are still people who are vaccinated and boosted who are taking this too seriously,” Cox said, reiterating what he said Thursday that he would like to see fewer “divisive” COVID and vaccine bills coming out of the state Legislature such as HB 60, which would ban businesses from requiring vaccines. “One of the ways we can show we’re done is to stop divisive bills in the Legislature.”

The governor also had strong words for some activists who have been saying that the state drawing back its COVID response is making the environment more dangerous for immunocompromised and elderly people who are more prone to the strong effects of COVID-19. He said all of society doesn’t need to take extra precautions that could be made by the immunocompromised themselves. He cited having immunocompromised family members.

“It’s false that if you’re immunocompromised, we can’t protect you. I have two immunocompromised siblings. I have a sister who wears an N95 mask every winter. We wore masks before it was cool. The idea we need to be stuck in this forever is not science,” Cox said, adding that he also rejects people bullying those who chose to still mask up after the emergency is over. “If you see someone wearing a mask, don’t mock them. They may have cancer or be immunocompromised.

“There are people wearing masks … that’s OK. There are people not wearing masks – that’s OK.”

The omicron variant came through with a hurricane, with January seeing the largest number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths of the entire pandemic. However, local infections in Southern Utah have gone from more than 300 per day at the start of the month to 50 to 75 infections per day this week according to the Utah Department of Health.  

But because omicron infected so many, there is a high percentage of those immune from getting severe COVID-19 now. The Associated Press reports that right now, 73% of Americans are immune to omicron and that number could reach 80% by next month. 

While a minority, 46.7%, of Southern Utahns are fully vaccinated and 20% are boosted, the surge of omicron at one time had at least 1 of every 10 Southern Utahns infected in January according to the Utah Department of Health, giving those people an added natural immunity for between 90 days to eight months. Those who are vaccinated, experts say, should remain immune for at least another year, and especially protects them from hospitalization and death. 

David Heaton, spokesperson for the Southwest Utah Public Health Department, said there is evidence that omicron, which wiped out the stronger delta variant, has played a role in setting the stage for a ramp down.

“Omicron has been the type of variant that could indeed be a factor in that transition … fast-spreading, less severe,” Heaton said. “We would still want to see a greater decline in hospitalizations and deaths.” 

There have also been previous lulls during the pandemic. At one point last April, there were suddenly no COVID-19 patients at St. George Regional Hospital. That was followed by the delta varient in the summer and omicron in the last few months causing the largest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations locally of the entire pandemic. 

However, Cox and other state officials said like any endemic disease, there still will be spikes with a disease that has been anything but predictable, and the state and public health departments could go right back to an emergency footing if events warrant. 

“We are going to keep an eye on what’s coming next,” said Dr. Leisha Nolen, the state epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health. “We need to be ready for that.”

This is a developing story. More information will be released this afternoon on what precautions people still need to make regarding COVID-19, including whether masks are still needed.

COVID-19 information resources

St. George News has made every effort to ensure the information in this story is accurate at the time it was written. However, as the situation and science surrounding the coronavirus continues to evolve, it’s possible that some data has changed.

Check the resources below for up-to-date information and resources.

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