SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Governor Spencer Cox says he is becoming increasingly optimistic about COVID-19 vaccines as the weeks go by.
The state will now receive an increased allocation of the Moderna vaccine, bringing the total number of vaccines shipped to Utah each week to 40,000, including both Moderna vaccines and Pfizer vaccines, according to the governor. Previously, the state received about 33,000 doses a week.
In addition, state leaders anticipate that the number of vaccines shipped to the state could reach 100,000 a week by March or April, Cox said. Federal approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is expected in February, and AstraZeneca is also preparing to submit its vaccine for approval.
Johnson & Johnson’s approval of the vaccine is expected to allow Utah to significantly increase vaccinations, especially among people with comorbidities, Cox said. He anticipates making an announcement next week about what comorbidities will make people eligible for the vaccine.
Although it would take months to vaccinate each Utahn at a rate of 100,000 doses per week, it is still a big improvement, the governor said.
“I’m more optimistic now than I was a week ago,” Cox said Thursday.
On Thursday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson and Utah State Department of Health epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn provided an update on the COVID-19 pandemic at a news conference. Watch the replay of the press conference below.
Vaccine demand still exceeds supply
Of the nearly 400,000 doses of vaccine shipped to Utah so far, only 95 have been discarded or discarded, Cox said Thursday.
A state audit of the vaccines showed that 95 doses were not used, mainly because of vials or syringes that were damaged during transit, the governor said.
There have been reports from other states that large amounts of vaccine doses are being discarded because of regulations on how they should be used, but there is no evidence that this is happening in Utah, Cox added. While health departments and facilities that administer vaccines must use the doses within seven days of the date they were delivered, doses older than seven days are reallocated, not wasted, the governor said.
Vaccine demand is even higher than supply in Utah, state leaders said. Currently, health care workers, first responders, teachers and K-12 staff, and anyone over the age of 70 are eligible to be vaccinated in Utah.
Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said he completed his tour of all 13 local health districts in Utah last week. Everyone was instructed to keep lists of people who wanted the vaccine, but could not book an appointment, Henderson said. They were also asked to keep a waiting list of people eligible for the vaccine, who could receive a vaccine at the end of the day, so that any additional dose that is not used that day is not wasted, Henderson added.
While state leaders acknowledge that securing a meeting for a vaccine has been difficult in some areas, the lists are being implemented to simplify the process and get as many vaccines in arms as possible, the lieutenant governor said. The visits to the health districts were “very open to the eye” and an extraordinary experience, she added.
“I can’t stress enough the extraordinary work that these local health workers are doing,” Henderson said.
As demand continues to exceed Utah’s vaccine supply, state leaders hope it will change soon, she added.
“We encourage everyone to continue to be patient,” Henderson said.
New COVID-19 cases
The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose 1,761 on Thursday, with no more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
The health department did not report any deaths on Thursday due to a data transmission error, the agency said clarified in a tweet Thursday afternoon. The deaths reportedly reported on Thursday will be added to COVID-19 statistics report on Friday, the health department said.
Nowadays # COVID-19 updating the number of cases, zero new deaths were reported. This was due to a data transmission error. The deaths reported today will be added to tomorrow’s case count.
– Utah Dept. of Health (@UtahDepOfHealth) January 28, 2021
According to the health department, the average number of positive cases per day for seven days is now 1,710. The positive daily test rate for that time period is now 18.3%.
The Department of Health estimates that there are now 43,187 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah.
In addition, seven-day averages for new COVID-19 cases and positive test results also declined from last week, the state Department of Health epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn said on Thursday.
“All of these key indicators are definitely trending in the right direction,” she said.
Although Utah saw those promising trends for the start of the new year, Dunn urged people to continue to do what they do to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The Utahs are vaccinated, but there are still not enough people vaccinated for the herd’s immunity, so people must continue to take precautionary measures to stop the spread, Dunn added. That means wearing masks, distancing yourself socially, staying home when you’re sick, and practicing good hygiene, she said.
People are also urged to upgrade their masks from cloth to medical-grade face coatings if possible, Cox said. Utah leaders are working with President Joe Biden’s administration to potentially purchase more of these types of masks to distribute to Utahns, Cox said.
“The right quality mask protects the user,” the governor said.
The new figures for Thursday indicate a 0.5% increase in positive cases on Wednesday. Of the 2,000,023 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah to date, 17.1% tested positive for the disease. The total number of tests performed increased by 18,134 since Thursday, and 10,917 of them were tests in people who had not been previously tested for COVID-19, according to state data.
There are 444 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 157 in intensive care, state data show. About 84% of UTI beds in Utah are occupied on Thursday, including about 89% of UTI beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 56 percent of Utah’s non-ICU hospital beds are occupied, according to the health department.
A total of 267,027 vaccines were administered in the state, up from 250,448 on Wednesday. Of these, 43,089 are secondary doses, state data show.
Thursday’s totals give Utah a total of 342,445 confirmed cases, with a total of 13,279 hospitalizations and a total of 1,620 deaths from the disease. A total of 297,638 cases of Utah COVID-19 are now considered recovered, according to the health department.
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 cases of COVID-19 since the onset of the Utah outbreak, including those who are currently infected, those who have recovered 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 State Council and Territorial Epidemiologists. 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