SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose 2,146 on Tuesday, with another 26 deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Fifteen of those deaths occurred before Dec. 22, the health department reported. The state physician’s office conducts investigations into each death to determine COVID-19 as the cause, which may delay the reporting of these deaths for several weeks.
There are now an estimated 54,792 active COVID-19 cases in Utah, according to the Department of Health. According to the health department, the average number of positive cases per day for seven days is now 2,946. The positive daily test rate for that time period is now 29.3%.
There are 560 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 187 in intensive care, state data show. About 85% of Utah’s intensive care beds have been occupied since Tuesday, including about 89% of the intensive care beds in 16 state reference hospitals.
A total of 110,530 vaccines were administered in the state, increasing from 103,547 months.
The new figures show a 0.7% increase in positive cases on Monday. Of the 1,843,113 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah to date, 16.9% tested positive for the disease. The total number of tests performed increased by 17,782 since Monday, and 11,991 of these were tests in people who had not been previously tested for COVID-19.
Tuesday’s total gives Utah 309,629 confirmed cases in total, with 12,059 total hospitalizations and 1,422 total deaths from the disease. An estimated 253,415 COVID-19 cases in Utah are now considered recovered.
There is no COVID-19 press conference scheduled for Tuesday. Utah officials usually provide updates at press conferences once a week on Wednesday or Thursday.
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.
Jacob Klopfenstein