Hearing has begun.

Mark Gaber is laying out how the amendment the Legislature has proposed eliminates the right of voters to pass voter initiatives and not have the Legislature immediately repeal them for any reason they want.

The language on the ballot says the opposite. "It is counterfactual, it is 100% false" to say if voters pass the amendment state law will be changed to require the Lege to respect the initiative. It does not.

A reasonably intelligent voter would read the language and think they're strengthening the initiative process.

Rep. Maloy, chairing the committee on the initiative bills, says they have three bills and want to spend no more than 20 mins on each one. Wants to give 10 mins for the public to speak. #utpol Sen. Cullimore presenting the first bill. "I want to emphasize this is not specifically targeted at [the Supreme Court ruling]." He says the gerrymandering lawsuit will continue whether this passes or not. This is a bigger issue.

Following along on the hearing on whether to issue a temporary restraining order blocking Utah’s abortion trigger law from taking effect. Hearing is starting now.

Julie Murray from Planned Parenthood is arguing for the plaintiffs. #utpol Murray argues this is not about state rights or Roe. It is about Utah’s law depriving women of rights guaranteed by Utah’s Constitution — bodily integrity and equal protection, when and if to start a family, conscription into parenthood. #utpol

About to start a news conference to give us a status update on Utah hospitals.

Dr. Michelle Hofmann, deputy director, Utah Dept of Health, says we start the year in “dire position.” Today will report 8,913 new cases, a new record. 530 hospitalized. 188 in ICU. #utpol Hofmann: We’ll report 13 new deaths today, including a child. Testing is bursting at the seams.

Hospitals are caring for more patients needing critical care with fewer staff because they’re out sick or exhausted.

Monoclonal antibodies are in critically short supply. #utpol

In UDOH call, Leisha Nolan, state epidemiologist, says it’s possible that omicron will be less severe but there are people out there who are immunocompromised and we don’t want to take chances.

It is concerning to see large groups of people coming together. #utpol Nolen: Hard to predict when we’ll reach a peak. Probably have another bad few weeks if not a month or two ahead of us.

Even without a booster you were fairly well protected against delta. You really need a booster with omicron. It can get around the initial protection. #utpol

Utah’s Wednesday Covid data:
🌡 7,247 cases, ⬆️3,944 from last wk
🎓973 school-aged cases
😔 44 deaths*, 3,855 total
🏥 495 hospitalized
🧪 19,906 people tested, 36.4% pos. 37,578 total tests, 19.3% pos
📈 7-day avg, 4,317 cases/day, 22.9%/15.5% pos
💉 12,143 new vax
#utpol Of the 44 deaths reported today, 23 occurred prior to Dec. 1 and were delayed for further investigation.

The 7-day average is at a record high, obviously. Hospitalizations up 16.

The full list of the 44 deaths is below. #utpol

Utah’s Tuesday Covid data:
🌡 4,661 cases, ⬆️2,845 from last wk
🎓651 school-aged cases
😔 7 death, 3,811 total
🏥 479 hospitalized
🧪 15,056 people tested, 31% pos. 30,442 total tests, 15.3% pos
📈 7-day avg, 3,745 cases/day, 21%/14.2% pos
💉 12,319 new vax doses
#utpol Thought we’d be over 5,000 today. This is now the 2nd-highest single day. And that 31% positivity means there’s a ton more out there.

Hospitalizations up 13 from yesterday. Covid patients in ICU down 1 to 178. Referral ICUs 91.2% full.

Here’s info on the 7 dead. #utpol

Utah’s New Year Covid data:
🌡 14,754 cases, ⬆️10,203 from last wkd
🎓1,764 school-aged cases
😔 17 death, 3,804 total
🏥 466 hospitalized
🧪 52,431 people tested, 28% pos. 97,490 total tests, 15% pos
📈 7-day avg, 3,346 cases/day, 18.6%/12.5% pos
💉 23,327 new vax doses
#utpol That’s a 189% increase in cases since last week — both are holiday wkds so the numbers are skewed.
12/30: 4,659 cases, ⬆️3180
12/31: 3,799, ⬆️2483
1/1: 3267, ⬆️ 2046
1/2: 3,123, ⬆️2494
Hospitalizations ⬆️ 30 from Fri. Patients in ICU up 4 to 179. Referral ICUs 89.3% full. #utpol

If you’d like a sneak preview of what Rep. Steve Christiansen will claim about election fraud, here are his slides. #utpol le.utah.gov/interim/2021/p… Rep. Lowry Snow: You would like taxpayers to expend money on an audit without any verifiable information that the election results are not valid?

Rep. Lyman: “The fact that 53% of people are concerned should be a red flag to the Legislature.” #utpol

Your Tuesday Covid report:
🌡 1,343 cases, ⬆️242 from last Tuesday
🎓284 school-aged cases
😔 5 deaths, 3,095
🏥 523 hospitalized
🧪 Testing numbers are messed up. I’ll have to add them later.
📈 7-day avg, 1,283 cases/day, 15.2%/10% pos
💉 8,358 new vax doses
#utpol Suspect this is a little rebound from a lot of schools being out over the wkd. We were down 265 for the wkd, this puts us about flat for last 4 days and still down 842 for week.

Hospitalizations up 6. ICU cases up 5 to 202. Referral ICU 90.2% full.

Info on the 5 deaths. #utpol

Utah’s weekend Covid report:
🌡 3,036 cases, ⬇️265 from last weekend
🎓608 school-aged cases
😔 23 deaths, 3,090
🏥 517 hospitalized
🧪 18,891 people tested, 16.1% pos. 35,550 total tests, 8.5% pos
📈 7-day avg, 1,247 cases/day, 15.5%/10.2% pos
💉 12,731 new vax doses
#utpol Some weirdness in the weekend numbers.
10/15: 1,329 ⬆️ 85
10/16: 1,092 ⬆️ 232
10/17: 639 ⬇️ 582

Not sure what explains that big swing. Also 24 cases were removed from the total.

Hospitalizations down 42 since Friday. ICU cases down 12 to 197. Referral ICUs 93.7% full. #utpol

A big Thurs. Covid report:
🌡 2,165 cases, ⬆️ 478 from last week.
🎓544 school-aged cases
😔 10 deaths, 2,703
🏥 516 hospitalized
🧪 17,441 people tested, 12.4% pos. 27,882 total tests, 7.8% pos.
📈 7-day avg, 1,431 cases/day, 12.3%/9.2% pos
💉 19,255 vaxxes given
#utpol Kinda expected this — catch-up from a couple low days coming out of the weekend.

School-age cases are still about 1/4 of all cases.

Hospitalizations jumped up by 33. ICU cases up 16 to 191. Referral ICUs 92.5% full.

Info on the 10 dead below. #utpol

The WEDNESDAY Covid report:
🌡 1,539 cases, ⬇️ 146 from last week.
🎓362 school-aged cases
😔 8 deaths, 2,693
🏥 483 hospitalized
🧪 10,349 people tested, 14.9% pos. 18,148 total tests, 8.5% pos.
📈 7-day avg, 1,362 cases/day, 12.4%/9.3% pos
💉 No report on vax doses
#utpol Got the day right on the 3rd try.

The vaccine data is undergoing quality analysis and will be back tomorrow.

School-aged cases are 23.5% of total.

One of the eight deaths was a 15-24 year old female from Iron County. Here is the info on all eight. #utpol

Your weekend Covid report:
🌡 4,657 cases, ⬆️ 135 from last weekend.
🎓1,151 school-aged cases
😔 27 deaths, 2,685
🏥 482 hospitalized
🧪 38,555 people tested, 12.1% pos. 58,564 total tests, 8% pos.
📈 7-day avg, 1,382 cases/day, 12.6%/9.5% pos
💉 15,438 new vax doses
#utpol Keep in mind this includes the holiday (when cases were down) so it’s four days, not three.

9/3: 1,871 ⬆️ 267
9/4: 1,187 ⬆️ 58
9/5: 922 ⬆️ 321
9/6: 707 ⬇️ 511

Labor Day dip kept this from being much worse. Pediatric cases are 1/4 of total.

Here’s info on the 27 deaths. #utpol

Now @GovCox giving his Covid briefing here facebook.com/govcox/videos/…

In last three weeks cases and hospitalizations have steadily risen. We don’t want to be here. Good news is vaccinations have been steady. Discouraged by large number not vaxxed. #utpol @GovCox Cox: To those health care providers, our heart breaks that you’re going through this again. Especially caring for people who didn’t take the opportunity to protect themselves.

For first time in pandemic we had a moment Friday evening where there was no ICU space. #utpol

Your weekend Covid report:
🌡 3,229 cases, ⬆️ 603 from last weekend.
🎓715 school-aged cases
😔 5 deaths, 2,628
🏥 465 hospitalized
🧪 23,026 people tested, 14% pos. 36,480 total tests, 8.9% pos.
📈 7-day avg, 1,263 cases/day, 15.1%/10.8% pos
💉 20,683 new vax doses
#utpol Daily numbers for the weekend:
8/27: 1,604 cases, ⬆️ 383
8/28: 1,129, ⬆️ 266
8/29: 601, ⬇️ 46

We’ve had 8,836 cases in the past week and our 7-day average jumped by almost 100 since Friday.

School cases for the wkd:
Age 5-10: 298 cases
11-13: 205
14-18: 212

#utpol

Covid report for Wednesday:
🌡 1,585 cases, ⬆️ 97 from last week.
🎓374 school-aged cases
😔 12 deaths, 2,605
🏥 471 hospitalized
🧪 10,411 people tested, 15.2% pos. 17,759 total tests, 8.9% pos.
📈 7-day avg, 1,122 cases/day, 15.1%/10.7% pos
💉 10,904 new vax doses
#utpol Today 23.6% of the cases are pediatric cases.

Hospitalizations jumped by 33 to 471, highest since Jan 22. Covid patients in ICU up 12 to 189. Referral ICUs are 87% full.

Here is the info on the 12 deaths reported. #utpol

Now @DrAngelaCDunn is updating the council on Covid. Everything is up.

Rate among 5-11 is up. And last year we had Test-to-Play, masking, etc. That’s a best case scenario. @DrAngelaCDunn 5-11 had the highest rate of infection and most cases. 3 new hospitalizations.

Winder Newton asks if Primary is the only hospital that admits kids. It is not.

Overall case count up 156%.

School starting. Had 174 cases school-related. 200 cases pending verification. #utpol

Your Covid report for Tuesday:
🌡 1,140 cases, ⬆️ 177 from last week.
🎓246 school-aged cases #utpol
😔 9 deaths, 2,593
🏥 438 hospitalized
🧪 Testing data appears to be missing. I’ll get it later.
📈 7-day avg, 1,108 cases/day, 14.8%/10.5% pos
💉 5,747 new vax doses Daily case average is back to where we were Feb. 8.

Hospitalizations up 19. There are 177 Covid patients in ICU, up four from yesterday. Referral ICUs are 84.3% full.

Here is the info on the nine deaths. #utpol

Weekend Covid report:
🌡 2,718 cases, ⬆️ 276 from last weekend
🎓 534 school-age cases
😔 12 deaths, 2,584 total
🏥 431 hospitalized
🧪 17,564 people tested, 15.5% pos, 28,929 total tests, 9.4% pos
📈 7-day avg, 1,084 cases/day, 14.7%/10.5% pos
💉 20,896 vax doses given #utpol Here’s breakdown by day:
8/20: 1,221 ⬆️ 83 from the prior week
8/21: 863 ⬇️ 23
8/22: 647 ⬆️ 230

13 cases were removed from the tally for quality control.

Hospitalizations up 12 from Fri. There are 173 Covid patients in ICU, up 15 from Friday. Referral ICUs 85.2% full. #utpol

Here are your Covid numbers for Tuesday:
🌡 361 cases, ⬆️ 112 from last week
😔 3 deaths, 2,368 total
🏥 225 hospitalized
🧪 3,272 people tested, 11% pos., 5,452 total tests, 6.6% pos.
📈 7-day avg, 364 cases/day, 9.7%/6.4% pos.
💉 2,851,187 vaccines given, up 4,519 #utpol Highest Tues. since March 30.Highest 7-day average since May 7.

Hospitalizations up 5. ICU cases up 7 to 79. Referral ICUs are 75.9% full.

Three deaths:
• SLCo male, 45-64,hospitalized
• Box Elder female, 25-44, hospitalized
• Davis male, 45-64, hospitalized
#utpol