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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Gary Herbert’s office announced on Friday that requests from Magna, West Valley City and Grand County to transition to the low COVID-19 risk phase have been approved.
The Utah Department of Health and the local health departments consulted Herbert on the executive order, which took effect immediately upon release before 4 p.m.
The cities and county were in the moderate risk, or orange phase, as outlined in the state’s Utah Leads Together Plan and have requested to move to yellow, according to a statement from the governor's office on Thursday. "Based on the data and trends, we are inclined to accept those requests and an order could issue as early as tomorrow," the statement said; Friday's order made it official.
Salt Lake City, Bluff and Mexican Hat will remain in the orange phase, according to the order.
“After consulting with the County Health Department we've requested to keep Salt Lake City in the orange phase because our data is not showing a significant enough change since May 1 to warrant a shift to yellow,” Mayor Erin Mendenhall said in a statement Thursday.
The majority of Utah transitioned to low risk earlier this month with the exception of a few counties and cities where transmission rates were higher.
Herbert moved Wasatch and Summit counties from orange to yellow last week, adding to the growing list of areas in Utah now considered in the low-risk phase for COVID-19.
Many parts of the state are in a position to possibly start transitioning to green, the "new normal" phase, Herbert said at a Thursday press conference. However, he said that change may not happen for several weeks.
There were 343 cases of COVID-19 reported in the state Friday, the highest single-day increase in cases since the coronavirus pandemic began, a jump of 128 cases from the previous single-day high of 215 just a day earlier. One more person passed away, bringing the state's death total from the disease to 107.
Contributing: Jen Riess, KSL.com and Ladd Egan, KSL TV
