OGDEN — Since January, when the COVID-19 case count spiked in Weber and Morgan counties, the numbers have fallen dramatically and, so far, stayed put.

“It’s a good place to be,” said Brian Cowan, director of the Weber-Morgan Health Department.

In January, as the omicron variant of COVID-19 raged across the country, the number of cases in the two counties spiked, reaching 18,329 for the month, easily the highest monthly count since the start of the pandemic. The next biggest monthly total for the two counties was in December 2020, when the case count reached 7,259.

Since January, though, the number of local cases has fallen dramatically, paralleling the trend across the country. The numbers were 2,898 in February, 357 in March and 342 in April.

The seven-day average number of cases in Weber County currently totals 29 per 100,000 people, Cowan said, down from 782 per 100,000 on Jan. 20, when the figure was peaking.

Likewise, he said the number of cases requiring hospitalization has been way down of late at Weber County’s two hospitals, Ogden Regional Medical Center and McKay-Dee Hospital. There have been anywhere from five to 10 cases at the two hospitals at any give time of late, he said, and only three cases have been severe enough over the past four weeks to require treatment in an intensive-care unit.

Where things go from here, as always, is a question mark. He noted agencies like the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention haven’t yet ruled the pandemic over and done with. Likewise, “there’s always a threat” that there might be a resurgence in cases.

However, the infection rates for now aren’t enough to create urgency or overt concern.

“If people are concerned for themselves, they certainly have the option to use masks in the public, use masks when they’re traveling,” Cowan said. “It’s a great, protective tool.”

Vaccinations, meantime, are still available through the health department, pharmacies and individual doctor’s offices. If federal health authorities give the green light for vaccination of newborns up to 5-year-0lds, the health department may organize vaccination clinics, as it did during the height of the pandemic.

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