SALT LAKE CITY – After New Year’s Day took off, the first report of the Utah Department of Health in 2021 shows 5,042 new cases confirmed by COVID-19 and 25 new deaths in the state.
The department says 3,110 of those cases were reported Friday.
With the update, Utah has now recorded a total of 281,654 confirmed cases and 1,212 deaths caused by COVID-19 since the pandemic began. The health department says 14,900 more Utahs have been tested compared to Thursday’s number and that 1,740,903 Utahs have been tested now. There are currently 487 utahniks hospitalized for coronavirus and 11,101 total hospitalizations since the pandemic hit Utah last year.
In the last week, the state has an average of 2,506 new cases reported per day and a positive test rate of 27.4%.
There is no coronavirus press conference scheduled for the weekend. Gov. Gary Herbert, who chaired most news conferences in 2020, is stepping down and will be officially replaced by elected governor Spencer Cox on Monday.
This story will be updated.
Methodology:
Test results now include data from PCR tests and antigen tests. Positive COVID-19 test results are reported to the health department immediately after confirmation, but negative test results cannot be reported for 24 to 72 hours.
The total number of cases reported daily by the Utah Department of Health includes all COVID-19 cases since the onset of the Utah outbreak, including those currently infected, those recovering from the disease, and those who have died.
Recovered cases are defined as anyone who was diagnosed with COVID-19 three or more weeks ago and did not die.
The referral hospitals are the 16 hospitals in Utah with the capacity to provide the best COVID-19 healthcare.
State-reported deaths usually occurred two to seven days before they are reported, according to the health department. Some deaths may come from the back, especially if the person is from Utah but died in another state.
The Department of Health reports both confirmed and probable deaths in the COVID-19 case, as defined by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiology. The number of deaths may change as case investigations are completed.
For deaths that are reported as COVID-19 deaths, the person would not have died if they did not have COVID-19, according to the health department.
The data included in this story primarily reflects the state of Utah as a whole. For more localized data, visit the local health district website.
More information on Utah health guidance levels is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels.
The information comes from the Utah Department of Health and coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts. For more information on how the Utah Department of Health compiles and reports COVID-19 data, visit coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts and scroll down to the “Data Notes” section at the bottom of the page.
Graham Dudley