Utah’s rate of positive COVID-19 tests has skyrocketed in recent weeks, leading at least one prominent doctor to suggest the state may need to take a step back after a month of reopenings.

That already happened this week in the northern Utah city of Logan, where city officials closed the library and the recreation center again for the foreseeable future.

Dr. Samuel Brown, a critical care researcher at Intermountain Healthcare, said he’s concerned that Utah may have to shut down again if people don’t seriously practice mask wearing and social distancing in the rush to reopen businesses and get the economy jump started.

“I understand why people are eager to be on the move again — I really do,” Brown said “It’s also true that if we’re not really careful, people will die.”

Utah is among a large number of states in the U.S. with rising cases, according to an Associated Press analysis.

State epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn last week urged Utah residents to continue social distancing and wearing masks about a month after much of the state has been allowed to reopen.

At the time of Dunn’s renewed plea, the state had recorded an average of about 200 cases a day that week — by far the highest weekly average since the pandemic began. That number has now risen to about 320 cases per day for the first week of June, state figures show.

Utah also has the eleventh-highest rate of positive tests per 100,000 people in the U.S. It had the seventh-lowest rate in mid-May, according to The COVID Tracking Project.

Utah could also be at risk of spreading the virus to surrounding states such as Wyoming, Montana and Nevada “if things got out of hand," Brown said.

While much of the state allowed businesses to reopen amid relaxed coronavirus-related restrictions, Logan Mayor Holly Daines decided to close the two community spaces because she thought it could help stem a recent increase in positive cases, said city spokesperson Teresa Harris. a

Nearly 300 workers at the nearby meatpacking plant JBS USA tested positive for the virus on May 30, according to the Bear River Health Department.

Employees held a demonstration in Logan Tuesday against conditions at the plant in Hyrum.

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Sophia Eppolito is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.