What will it take to give Utahns a shot in the arm?
It started as a tasty idea: free Krispy Kreme donuts for vaccinated Americans. Free beer followed, as did free childcare, airline flights and free fishing and hunting licenses. Full-ride college scholarships sweetened the menu. Then Ohio lathered lots of icing on the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination push, offering a shot at $1 million jackpots through its “Vax-a-Million” campaign for anyone who received the first dose. The lottery incentive — mimicked by 10 more states since May — led to a 30 percent vaccination boost across the Buckeye State.
Here in Utah, which is still sluggishly below the 45 percent fully vaccinated mark like many southern states, multi-million dollar cash handouts are nowhere to be had. Among the country’s bonanza of bribes that range from Girl Scout cookies to free weed, Utahns can officially ride TRAX without paying for a jab in the arm. Appreciate ya.
Don’t expect any of this to change since state leaders can’t use either the carrot or the stick. Legislation passed last session that forbids any state entity from requiring Covid vaccines. And a quiet addition during the special session now restricts state surplus dollars from funding vaccine incentives — even a Thirst, Swig or Crown Burger.
All this comes against the backdrop of the federal government’s missed goal of having 70 percent of Americans partially vaccinated by July 4. Meantime, virus microbursts are exploding in certain pockets of the country like a fireworks finale. The Delta variant has doctors and nurses — still finding their sea legs after 15 unmoored months pummeled by the pandemic — anxious and exhausted. Health officials are urging fully vaccinated adults to keep their masks squarely on and their distance a solid six feet. And Utah’s ICU hospital units are filling fast, nudging near 75 percent capacity.
Dr. Richard Orlandi, Chief Medical Officer of Ambulatory Health at University of Utah Health, says a spike in cases was expected this fall, not the first half of summer. “It’s demoralizing to see this happening,” he says, “when the prevention is at our fingertips”
Utah Lagging Behind the Herd
Just like everything else in 21st century America, the vaccination debate is fracturing along the red and blue political fault line. Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts have eclipsed 60 percent full vaccination and are approaching the 70 percent herd immunity public health prize. Thirteen more states are north of 50 percent. But most southern, plains states and mountain west states — all crimson cousins, Utah included — sag well below that mark.
The contrasting vaccination rates could lead to “two Americas,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s foremost infectious disease expert, told CNN.
For his part, Gov. Spencer Cox has made a series of public pleas for Utahns to get vaccinated. Just after the Biden administration’s Fourth of July date passed, Cox touted newly included numbers of federal vaccinations — primarily Covid shots in tribal communities, jails, and among veterans at VA hospitals — that appear to have inched Utah to the 70 percent demarcation of residents receiving at least one dose of the vaccine.
Yet Cox didn’t mince words during a recent press conference, scolding that nearly all Covid hospitalizations and deaths in Utah are preventable. “Ninety five percent of you don’t have to die,” the governor said, “and 95 percent of you don’t have to be hospitalized and go through that incredible pain.”
Even so, following a significant slide over the spring, Utah’s coronavirus cases — along with hospitalizations and the positivity rate — are on the uptick. Of the roughly 275 hospitalized Covid patients, nearly 100 are in intensive care, according to the health department. And the number of Utahn’s being tested has plunged like a cliff diver at Causey Reservoir. Around Thanksgiving, Utah’s statewide Covid testing total exceeded 32,500. By mid-June, that tabulation had torpedoed to fewer than 6,000 statewide tests.
“Our healthcare workers are just now emotionally and physically recovering,” said Orlandi, the U. of U. doctor. “To have the crush of need that we had, and to work long, difficult hours and mandatory overtime…now to see that going back up again — we’re tired and we know that more is on the horizon in the fall.”
Despite the ominous surge, state lawmakers were quick to defang its public agencies when it came to fighting the virus. Earlier this year on Capitol Hill, there was little debate in passing a bill prohibiting the state from requiring Covid vaccinations.
Rep. Robert Spendlove, who sponsored HB308, says he’s actually a vaccine proponent. “It’s best for their health, it’s best for our state and our communities,” Spendlove said, “but it’s really important that we make sure we are ensuring people are encouraged to do it rather than forced to do it.”
Spendlove says he anticipated Utah would fall below the 70 percent vaccination marker on July 4 — the CDC still places the state closer to 68 percent — and wanted to be sure officials weren’t compelling residents to receive the vaccine. After all, the lawmaker says, the vaccines are still under “emergency authorization” from the CDC. “I don’t think it’s wise to give the government that kind of power.”
At the same time, Spendlove says there was no appetite among legislators to set money aside for vaccine incentives. So even though other states are doing it with success, Utah won’t dangle gift cards, sports tickets or even premium content on dating apps like Match, Hinge, Bumble and Tinder. “The concern there was the camel’s nose in the tent of any kind of lotteries in the state of Utah,” he said.
Public Health Campaign vs. Conservative Conspiracy Theories
With the virus mutating and becoming ever more infectious across the globe, would widespread inoculation really make a difference? An analysis of government data published by the Associated Press puts the efficacy of the vaccines in perspective — revealing that nearly all Covid deaths in the U.S. last month were among people who weren’t vaccinated.
Similar trends hold true with hospitalizations. Fewer than 1,200 of the 853,000 Americans hospitalized last month were fully vaccinated, the data shows.
Still, three in 10 adults in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll say they have not gotten a Covid-19 vaccine and definitely or probably will not get one. Digging deeper into the group, 73 percent argue U.S. officials are exaggerating the risk of the Delta variant and 79 percent insist they have little or no risk of getting sick.
Across conservative echo chambers like Fox News, popular personalities have politicized the vaccines, openly discouraging people from getting the shots. All the while, warm weather, summer sports and rebounding businesses have led to mask-less throngs congregating in close quarters.
A coronavirus page on the state’s website includes a facts and myths section to address conspiracy theory bogeymen. Among them: Do vaccines contain microchips or tracking devices? Did the government develop the vaccines? Do Covid-19 vaccines change your DNA?
So, as people return to work and kids prepare for an in-person school year, which direction is Utah headed? Will its industrious citizens trust the vaccines enough to put the pandemic in the rearview? Or will our ruby red enclaves cling to the conspiracies associated with neighbors like Idaho and Wyoming, keeping the state significantly below herd immunity status?
Liberal Salt Lake Tribune cartoonist Pat Bagley is betting on the latter. “Pretty clear with Fox News hosts telling viewers not to get vaccinated, in-person LDS meetings back on, and the Delta variant, Covid is going to do a slow burn through Utah for a looong time,” he tweeted.
To get people off their couches and into clinics, state leaders launched a marketing campaign urging all Utahns over age 12 to get vaccinated. Online ads, billboards and television commercials feature scenes of grandparents hugging grandkids as the message implores, “Getting Back Here,” pivoting to an image of a person getting a Covid shot, “Starts Here.” And Cox continues his sales pitch to Utahns who either don’t trust the vaccine or don’t believe it’s necessary.
Politicians and health officials should have the benefit of more empirical evidence to help their vaccination campaigns. In recent days, multiple states have reported that 100 percent of their early summer Covid deaths include people who were unvaccinated.
“This is Darwinism and natural selection at work,” an account named Fifty Shades of Whey tweeted. “Only an idiot would refuse the vaccine at this point.”
Delta Delta Delta
When you call the number for the popular downtown Cajun restaurant The Bayou, a voicemail from the owner directs you to their webpage with the following caveat: “That page should dispel the myths that we are either discriminating or secret communists.”
Mark Alston and his wife, who own The Bayou have seen business plummet by 50 percent since making headlines as the first — and perhaps only — business in the West to require proof of Covid vaccination before entering.
“It’s not been good for us financially,” he said. “You’re going to have pissed off people for sure, and we’re definitely seeing lots of that. There’s no stomach for it in Utah and I get it…but it’s the way to keep everybody healthy and the healthcare system from being overrun.”
The restauranteur, who made a principled stand at a cost, says he wishes more retailers would follow suit and require proof of vaccination. Along with the vitriol vaulted at The Bayou, Alston says he gets plenty of praise and has cultivated a new crop of regulars. Hearing the sounds of people in the restaurant who feel safe, he says, “has been the best mental health in well over a year.”
Nobody expects Utah businesses to follow The Bayou’s lead, but plenty of owners are fearful of suffering another blow to revenue should the Delta variant keep people home.
As the dog days of summer slog on, it’s become a race between the vaccine and the variant. And Orlandi, the U. of U. doctor, fears the vaccine is in danger of losing.
“It seems the demand has fallen off precipitously,” he said. “There are some folks who are on the fence and there are some folks who are determined not to get vaccinated…It’s really going to be beneficial for us to have one-on-one conversations with people who have hesitations.”
An analysis of CDC data by the Associated Press found 99.2 percent of the 18,000 Americans who died from Covid-19 in May were not fully vaccinated against the virus. In a recent White House briefing, officials went further, saying 99.5 percent of all coronavirus deaths over the past six months were among the unvaccinated.
Maryland reported 100 percent of its June Covid deaths were among the unvaccinated as data from more and more states tell the same story. The trend is evidence, medical professionals argue, that the shot has rendered virtually all Covid-19 deaths preventable nationwide.
Despite the science, numbers, and nonstop encouragement by state and health leaders, Utah has not found the elixir to put enough juice in people’s arms.
“There’s so much misinformation out there that is, unfortunately, appealing to some,” Orlandi said. “I do not know what it will take to significantly boost our numbers.”
