

USU County and Municipal COVID-19 Surveys Final Report, May 2020
Courtney Flint, USU Extension, and Don Albrecht, Western Rural Development Center
County and municipal leaders and staff are on the front lines of responding to emergencies. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 presents considerable hardships for the people of Utah, as well as challenges for local officials. In response to the rapidly developing COVID-19 pandemic, we surveyed Utah county and municipal representatives in April 2020. We administered the survey using Qualtrics and email contacts for county representatives, and by using the Utah League of Cities and Towns’ (ULCT) newsletter for the municipal representatives. The ULCT survey had a smaller set of questions. We received 54 county responses from 24 counties and 58 municipal responses from 43 cities. Appendix A lists counties and municipalities represented. The surveys included the following questions:
Assets (county only)
- In the current COVID-19 pandemic, what do you feel is going well for your city or county right now?
- How confident are you about your city's or county's capacity to handle these issues (a) right now, or within the next six months, and (b) in six to 18 months?
Critical concerns
- What are your critical needs and concerns (a) right now or within the next 6 months, and (b) in 6 to 18 months, as your city or county faces this pandemic and its broader implications? (Respondents selected from the categories health, economic, and social, and then elaborated.)
- Are there specific ways USU and USU Extension can help your city or county address any of these emerging needs and concerns?
Contact
Dr. Courtney Flint
Community Resource Specialist, USU Extension
Email: courtney.flint@usu.edu
Phone: (435) 797-8635
Dr. Don Albrecht
Director of the Western Rural Development Center
Email: don.albrecht@usu.edu
Phone: (435) 797-9731
This material is based in part upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2019-51150-29875.
This report highlights the themes that emerged from the survey. We organized county findings in three clusters: Wasatch Front and Back Counties, Other Metro Counties, and Non-Metro Counties. We organized the municipal findings by the caucus groups arranged by ULCT: Cities of the First and Second Class, Established/Mid-Sized Cities, Rapid Growth Cities, Rural Hub and Resort Cities, and Traditional Rural Cities.
The Western Rural Development Center and USU Extension assembled a set of resources to respond to the concerns and issues raised in this survey. Obtain this information from the Western Rural Development Center at https://wrdc.usu.edu/news/untitled and from the USU Extension COVID-19 resource website at https://extension.usu.edu/covid-19/.
Assets: Things Going Well (county survey only)
County-level respondents most often mentioned no or few cases or the flattening curve related to emergent cases and the responsiveness of citizens to calls for social distancing and helping neighbors. A number of respondents mentioned good communication and information flow and effective actions by elected officials and health providers.
Table 1. Assets: Things Going Well for Counties in Utah During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Wasatch Front and Back [a]
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Other Metro [b]
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Non-Metro [c]
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[a] Counties include Davis, Utah, Weber, Morgan, Summit (10 people)
[b] Counties include Cache, Juab, Tooele, Washington (7 people)
[c] Counties include Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Kane, Millard, Rich, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Uintah, Wayne (37 people)
Critical Concerns: Categories
Regarding current needs and concerns, economics was the dominant category of concern for counties and municipalities (see Figures 1 and 2).

Figure 1. County economic, health care, and social critical current needs and concerns.

Figure 2. Municipal economic, health care, social, and other critical current needs and concerns.
Critical Concern Themes
At the county level, the most common current concerns include economic and business impacts (particularly to small businesses). Health care capacity and jobs or unemployment were notable concerns as well. Reliance on tourism was a concern for those from non-metro counties. Looking out 6 to 18 months, the most common emerging concerns for county respondents included economic and business impacts, maintaining public services and critical infrastructure given the tax revenue loss and issues related to local government fiscal solvency, jobs and unemployment, and ongoing health care capacity issues (see Table 2).
Table 2.
Critical Concerns of County Representatives in Utah During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Wasatch Front and Back [a] |
Other Metro [b] |
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Current Concerns |
Future Concerns |
Current Concerns |
Future Concerns |
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Non-Metro [c] |
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Current Concerns |
Future Concerns |
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[a] Counties include Davis, Utah, Weber, Morgan, Summit (10 people).
[b] Counties include Cache, Juab, Tooele, Washington (7 people)
[c] Counties include Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Kane, Millard, Rich, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Uintah, Wayne (37 people)
At the municipal level, immediate and longer-term needs and concerns mentioned focused heavily on the economy and concern for small businesses, and the ability to provide services, utilities, and capital projects given revenue shortfalls (see Table 3).
Table 3.
Critical Concerns of County Representatives in Utah During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Cities of the First and Second Class 7 people/6 cities |
Established/Mid-Sized Cities 15 people/14 cities |
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Current Concerns |
Future Concerns |
Current Concerns |
Future Concerns |
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Rapid Growth Cities 16 people/15 cities |
Rural Hub and Resort Cities 14 people/14 cities |
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Current Concerns |
Future Concerns |
Current Concerns |
Future Concerns |
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Traditional Rural Cities 6 people/6 cities |
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Current Concerns |
Future Concerns |
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Capacity to Respond
When asked about the capacity to respond to immediate needs and concerns, the majority of county respondents indicated “somewhat confident” (56%) followed by “very confident” (26%). When looking forward 6 to 18 months at emerging needs, 52% of county respondents were “somewhat confident” and 27% were “somewhat unconfident.” Figure 3 shows levels of confidence across county clusters.

Figure 3. County level of confidence in capacity to handle emerging issues.
Municipal respondents were only asked to indicate confidence in response capacity in the next 6 months, and nearly half indicated they were somewhat confident (48%), followed by very confident (35%) and not confident (9%). Figure 4 shows levels of confidence across city clusters.

Figure 4. Municipal level of confidence in capacity to handle issues through the next 6 months.
Ideas on How USU and USU Extension Could Help
County and municipal respondents had a number of ideas for how USU and USU Extension could help in these challenging times. Table 4 summarizes these ideas.
Table 4. County and Municipal Responses on How USU Can Help Utah Communities Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Wasatch Front and Back 10 people/5 counties
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Other Metro 7 people/4 counties
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Non-Metro 37 people/15 counties
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Municipalities
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Appendix A. Counties and Municipalities Represented in Survey Data
Counties Represented
Wasatch Front and Back
- Davis
- Morgan
- Summit
- Utah
- Weber
Other Metro
- Cache
- Juab
- Tooele
- Washington
Non-Metro
- Carbon
- Daggett
- Duchesne
- Emery
- Garfield
- Grand
- Iron
- Kane
- Millard
- Rich
- San Juan
- Sanpete
- Sevier
- Uintah
- Wayne
Municipalities Represented (Based on Utah League of Cities and Towns’ caucus groups)
Cities of the First and Second Class
- Millcreek
- Provo
- St. George
- South Jordan
- West Jordan
- West Valley City
Established/Mid-Sized Cities
- Clearfield
- Cottonwood Heights
- Emigration Canyon
- Holladay
- Lindon
- Logan
- Midvale
- Murray
- North Salt Lake
- River Heights
- Roy
- South Salt Lake
- Washington Terrace
- West Bountiful
Rapid Growth Cities
- Hooper City
- Kaysville
- La Verkin
- Mapleton
- Marriott-Slaterville
- North Logan
- Payson
- Perry
- Pleasant View
- Saratoga Springs
- Springville
- Vineyard
- Washington
- West Haven
- Woodland Hills
Rural
- Aurora
- Bear River Town
- Castle Valley
- Leamington
- Orangeville
- Wales Town
Rural Hub/Resort Cities
- Blanding
- Boulder
- Brian Head
- Bryce Canyon City
- Heber
- Hideout
- Kanab
- Moab
- Nephi
- Park City
- Rockville
- Roosevelt
- Springdale
- Vernal