COVID-19 pandemic in Utah
The COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S. state of Utah in early March 2020 with travel-related cases. Residents stockpiled goods, large conferences were made remote-only, postponed, or cancelled; a state of emergency was declared, and some public universities and other colleges switched to online-only classes. After the first case of community spread was found on March 14, Utah faced a shortage of testing kits, and public schools were ordered to be closed. Community spread was confirmed in more counties, and the state issued a public health order prohibiting dine-in service in restaurants and gatherings of more than 10 people except in grocery stores. A 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck the Wasatch Front on March 18, 2020, hampering the pandemic response.
COVID-19 pandemic in Utah
March 6, 2020
(4 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days)
1,113,881 (through November 1, 2023)
44,324 (cumulative)
5,678 (cumulative)
1,859 (cumulative)
5,455
In late March 2020, the state directed all people to voluntarily stay at home as much as possible. Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Morgan, Tooele, Summit, and Wasatch counties directed people to stay at home except for essential activities. In April 2020, the state briefly ordered all adults entering the state to fill out an online travel declaration. It established phased guidelines for the public to follow and moved from the "red" phase to the "orange" phase at the start of May, advising people to leave home infrequently, staying six feet away from others and wearing face masks when in public.
In May 2020, the "yellow" guidelines went into effect in most of the state, advising people to continue to stay six feet away from others when outside the home and to wear face coverings when social distancing was difficult to maintain. The number of cases in the Hispanic community surpassed that of the supermajority white population. Cases sharply spiked in June, driven by outbreaks in work sites. About 1% of the population had antibodies. Independence Day fireworks were cancelled or modified in several cities. Cases continued to increase through July 2020 but fell by the next month and continued downward as schools began to open under a statewide mask requirement. Schools began having multiple outbreaks going into September 2020 as cases in the state began to trend upward overall.