SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose 315 on Tuesday, with eight more deaths and 18,065 reported vaccinations, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Four of the deaths occurred before March 20, but were still being investigated by state doctors, the health department said.
The Department of Health estimates that there have been 8,477 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah as of Tuesday. The average continuous number of seven positive days a day is now 375, according to the health department. The positive daily test rate for that time period calculated using the “people over people” method is now 6.7%. The positive daily test rate for that time period calculated using the “test over test” method is now 3.2%.
There are 138 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 54 in intensive care, state data show. About 66 percent of all intensive care beds in Utah are now occupied, including about 69 percent of intensive care beds in 16 state reference hospitals, according to the health department. About 51% of non-ICU hospital beds are now occupied in the state.
A total of 1,916,922 vaccine doses were administered in the state, up from 1,898,857 months. A total of 1,202,333 Utahns, or about 50.6 percent of all vaccine-eligible residents age 16 and older, have now received at least one dose of the vaccine, the health department reported. A total of 799,291 Utahns, or about 33.6% of the state’s vaccine-eligible population, are now considered fully vaccinated.
About 24.9% of all Utahns, including children under 16 who are not currently eligible for the vaccine, are now fully vaccinated, according to the health department. About 37.5% of all Utahns now receive at least one dose of vaccine. A total of 2,168,470 doses of the vaccine have been shipped to Utah so far, the health department reported.
The new figures indicate a 0.08% increase in positive cases on Monday. Of the 2,498,939 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah to date, 15.7% tested positive for the disease. The total number of tests conducted since the Utah pandemic began is now 4,510,088, up 13,574 months, according to the health department. Of these, 5,100 were tested in people who had not been tested for the disease before.
The eight deaths reported on Tuesday were:
- A woman from Carbon County who was between 65 and 84 years old and was not hospitalized when she died
- A woman from Salt Lake County who was between 65 and 84 years old and was not hospitalized when she died
- A woman from Sanpete County who was over 85 years old and who lived in a long-term care unit
- A woman in Uintah County who was over 85 years old and living in a long-term care facility
- A woman in Uintah County who was between 45 and 64 years old and was hospitalized when she died
- A Utah County man over the age of 85 who was a resident of a long-term care facility
- A man from Weber County who was between 25 and 44 years old and was hospitalized when he died
- A woman from Weber County, who was between 65 and 84 years old and was hospitalized when she died
Tuesday’s total gives Utah 393,272 confirmed cases in total, with 15,959 total hospitalizations and 2,174 total deaths from the disease. The Department of Health estimates that there are now 382,621 cases of COVID-19 recovered in Utah.
The Utah endgame pandemic bill, formally known as HB294, requires that all state and local health orders related to COVID-19 end on the day Utah reaches the threshold in three key values: the rate of cases 14-day state is lower than 191 per 100,000 people, the average seven-day use of the COVID-19 intensive care unit is below 15%, and 1,633,000 primary doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been allocated in Utah .
As of Tuesday, the threshold is reached in the first two statistics. The current rate of COVID-19 cases in Utah per 100,000 people is now 170.4, and the average UCI use of COVID-19 in the last week is now 11.3%, state data show.
A total of 1,335,645 prime doses have been allocated in Utah since Tuesday. The state is expected to meet 1,633,000 main reference doses by the second or third week of May. The first dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine cycles, as well as the only Johnson & Johnson vaccine dose, are considered primary doses.
Spencer Cox and U. Deidre Henderson, the governor of Utah, are scheduled to deliver a COVID-19 pandemic update at the weekly press conference on Thursday at 11 a.m., according to the governor’s office.
Also Tuesday, the health department announced that state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn will step down this summer to become executive director of the Salt Lake County Department of Health.
