OGDEN — As across the state and nation, the COVID-19 case count in Weber and Morgan counties has spiked dramatically.

At Fremont High School, among other Weber School District schools, the case count among students is edging closer and closer to the test-to-stay level outlined in state law, when students would have to test negative for the virus to be able to stay in school.

“As I look at our case numbers, and if that’s the only thing I look at, it does look pretty scary, quite frankly, with how fast the case numbers have gone up,” Brian Cowan, director of the Weber-Morgan Health Department, said Monday.

That said, he’s not ready to push for a mandate in Weber and Morgan counties on mask use, as approved last week by officials in Salt Lake and Summit counties. Significantly, he said, the increased number of cases, largely caused by the omicron variant, isn’t causing a corresponding rise in hospitalizations in the two local hospitals, McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden and Ogden Regional Medical Center in Washington Terrace.

“We know we’ve been maxing them out at their capacity and we’ve strained them for several months now, but with the current situation, we’re not adding any additional burden to the hospitals,” he told Weber County commissioners in his weekly COVID-19 report to them. Forty-nine COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Weber County as of Sunday and of the 30 intensive-care unit beds in the two hospitals, 27 were occupied.

Calls to his office of late have been increasing by some in the public pushing for a mandate, Cowan said. But unless and until local hospitalizations start rising in step with the rising case count, he’s going to hold back on seeking a mask mandate or some other sort of public health order.

Even so, some of the numbers are dramatic.

The latest seven-day daily case count — the number of new COVID-19 cases per day, averaged over the last seven days — has spiked to 477, a new high. The high in 2021 during the COVID-19 spike in late 2020 and early 2021 occurred on Jan. 9, 2021, when the figure reached 278. Notably, the omicron variant, while more contagious than the delta variant, an earlier COVID-19 strain, doesn’t seem to hit most people quite as hard.

Fremont High School, Cowan said, now has 35 confirmed COVID-19 cases and if it reaches the 2% threshold — 42 cases, or 2% of the total student body — test-to-stay provisions of Senate Bill 107, approved last year, kick in. At schools with fewer than 1,500 students, the threshold is 30 cases.

“Here at the health department, our staff, working with the school district staff, we’re prepared to initiate that test-to-stay event this week if we exceed that threshold. Got everything lined up to move forward as soon as we hit that number,” Cowan said.

Schools that pass the test-to-stay limit are required to conduct COVID-19 testing of students. Students who subsequently test positive must stay home until they complete an isolation period, according to the rules. Those who don’t take part in testing must quarantine at home for 10 days.

If test-to-stay provisions kick in, Cowan said, COVID-19 testing supplies would be directed from other testing facilities to the impacted schools. Lines have been long at some of the testing locations here, which include a TestUtah site in the parking lot outside Ogden Regional Medical Center.

There are currently 32 active COVID-19 cases among Roy High School students, according to figures on the Utah Department of Health website, 1.7% of the student body and about five short of the 2% threshold. Weber High School is reporting 31 active cases, which represents 1.5% of the student body and about 11 cases short of the threshold.

There are 13 active cases at Ogden High School, the highest number among Ogden School District schools. That figure represents 1.2% of the student body, but because overall enrollment at Ogden High is under 1,500, the threshold for test-to-stay provisions to kick in at the school would be 30 cases.

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