Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Southeast Utah Health Department Director, Brady Bradford to talk about COVID, testing, and vaccines.

“We are still in the high transmission phase; we have a lot of cases still come in each day. With that being said we’re starting to see some signs that maybe we’ve tipped over the edge of our current peak and maybe on the downhill, which is encouraging,” said Bradford. This is gradual process which means we could still see high hospital rates for about another month. Right now, between Carbon and Emery counties there is approximately 10 individuals hospitalized. Not necessarily are they all here at our local hospital there could be some that were transferred to other hospitals up north. Regardless, the hospital is tirelessly working to care for COVID patients.

There is COVID testing available at the Southeast Utah Health Department. “The health department you can pretty much get tested all day through the work week. We ask people to call just to make an appointment, so we’re not doing walk-ins in that sense. I know Carbon Medical Service they set up mobile testing as well, and they’re generally there on Main Street,” said Bradford. There has not been testing offered on the weekends but that will change. Test Utah will conduct testing from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturdays in the parking lot of Castleview Hospital to better accommodate residents in need of the testing service.

Vaccines are available at the health department where there is a nurse available to administer those to the patient. “We have pretty much been focused on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons to give our nurses a really good designated time but we recently increased that to walk-ins Monday through Thursday, all day long. We hope to add Friday mornings as well but just to increase that availability,” explained Bradford. There is no appointment necessary for the walk-in clinic. This also applies to Flu Shots if anyone is in need of their yearly flu shots.

The Southeast Utah Health Department has a remarkable website that residents can obtain more information of all things COVID. “We do have a lot of easy to access information and that’s being updated regularly, we really try to keep that real time. Not only with the data, but with information. We’re still available to call any of our offices in Price, Castle Dale, Moab if you just want to talk to somebody and ask them questions,” stated Bradford. The Price office can be reached by calling (435) 637-3671, the Castle Dale office can be reached at (435) 381-2252 and the Moab office can be contacted at (435) 259-5602.

To keep posted on the latest COVID news visit the Southeast Utah Health Department website at https://www.seuhealth.com/