SALT LAKE CITY — Last week, in a press conference with representatives of Utah’s major hospital groups, Dr. Marion Bishop, an ER doctor in Box Elder and Cache Counties, made the point that COVID-19 is really two diseases. It’s an entirely different disease in a vaccinated person compared with someone unvaccinated.
Bishop talked about it from a personal perspective, saying how happy she was to give someone a COVID diagnosis if she knew they were vaccinated, because she could tell them they would most likely be better after suffering mild to moderate symptoms.
In an unvaccinated person, COVID-19 the diagnosis is “grim,” in her words.
From a statistical perspective, it’s easy to see, though a little less obvious than it was before the omicron variant.
Consider Utah as two states: Vax Utah and NoVax Utah.
- 1.91 million Utahns are fully vaccinated, it’s the bigger of the two Utahs
- 1.36 million are not vaccinated, the "smaller" Utah
Omicron is infecting a lot more residents of Vax Utah, but still far fewer than residents of NoVax Utah.
Infections since the vaccine became available in February 2021:
- Vax Utah: 87,000
- NoVax Utah: 214,000
Hospitalizations since February 2021:
- Vax Utah: 2,777
- NoVax Utah: 11,578
Deaths since February 2021:
- Vax Utah: 382
- NoVax Utah: 1,537