The state also reports five more deaths.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Irene Stukshis administers Stephan Rich’s Covid-19 vaccine at the Mountain America Expo in Sandy on Monday, March 8, 2021.
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New cases of COVID-19 are on the rise again in Utah. Since reaching a nine-month low of 221 on Monday, that number has doubled to 481 on Tuesday – to 699 on Wednesday.
The number of hospitalizations also increased, and five more deaths were reported by the Utah Department of Health. Four of the five deaths occurred before February 17 and have recently been confirmed to be related to coronavirus.
Last day vaccine doses / total doses • 27,654 / 1,054,727.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 384,054.
Cases reported the other day • 699.
Deaths reported last day • Five.
The deaths were: a woman aged 85 or older in Salt Lake County; a 45-64-year-old man in San Juan County; a 65-84 woman in Utah County; a 65-84 man in Washington County; and a 65-84 woman in Weber County.
Hospitalizations reported last day • 180. That has increased since Tuesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 63 are in intensive care units – eight more than Tuesday.
Tests reported the other day • 8,666 people were tested for the first time. A total of 19,892 people were tested.
Percentage of positive tests • According to the initial state method, the rate is 8.1%. It’s about the same as the seven-day average of 8.3%.
His new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Wednesday’s rate is now at 3.5%, lower than the seven-day average of 4.1%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Totals so far • 379,780 cases; 2,037 deaths; 15,198 hospitalizations; 2,307,238 people tested.