SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose Thursday by 4,597, with another 29 deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
17 of those deaths occurred before Dec. 20, according to the health department. The state physician’s office is investigating each death to confirm that the deaths were caused by COVID-19, which may include reviewing medical records or autopsies and may lead to delays in final determinations, the health department said.
The Department of Health estimates that there are 53,597 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah. According to the health department, the average number of positive cases per day for seven days is now 2,952. The positive daily test rate for that time period is now 32.7%.
The new figures indicate a 1.6% increase in positive cases on Wednesday. Of the 1,790,189 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah to date, 16.6% tested positive for the disease. The total number of tests performed increased by 22,207 since Thursday, according to state data. Of these, 15,554 were tested in individuals who had not been previously tested for COVID-19.
A total of 68,030 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in Utah, including 67,063 first doses and 967 secondary doses, according to the Department of Health. A total of 157,925 vaccine doses have been shipped to Utah so far, although health officials note that there is a delay in reporting data up to seven days from the date the doses are shipped to the state, administered to patients and reported. to the health department.
There are 537 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 187 in intensive care, state data show. About 87 percent of the beds in the Utah intensive care unit have been filled since Thursday, including about 87 percent of the intensive care beds in 16 referral hospitals across the state. About 55% of non-ICU hospital beds are filled, state data show.
The 29 deaths reported on Thursday were:
- A man from Cache County who was between 45 and 64 years old and a resident of a long-term care institution
- A woman in Davis County who was over 85 and living in a long-term care facility
- A Davis County woman between the ages of 65 and 84 who lived in a long-term care facility
- A woman from Davis County, who was between 65 and 84 years old and was hospitalized when she died
- A man from Davis County who was between 45 and 64 years old and was hospitalized when he died
- A man from Davis County who was between 65 and 84 years old and a resident of a long-term care institution
- A woman from Iron County who was between 25 and 44 years old and was not hospitalized when she died
- A man from Millard County, who was between 65 and 84 years old and was hospitalized when he died
- Two men from Salt Lake County who were between 65 and 84 years old and were not hospitalized when they died
- Two men from Salt Lake County, aged 45 to 64, who were hospitalized when they died
- A man from Salt Lake County who was between 65 and 84 years old and a resident of a long-term care institution
- A man from Salt Lake County who was between 45 and 64 years old and a resident of a long-term care institution
- A woman from Salt Lake County, who was between 65 and 84 years old and was hospitalized when she died
- Two women from Salt Lake County who were over 85 years old and were residents of a long-term care center
- Two men from Salt Lake County who were between 65 and 84 years old and were residents of long-term care units
- A woman from Salt Lake County who was between 65 and 84 years old and a resident of a long-term care institution
- A man from Utah County who was between 65 and 84 years old and a resident of a long-term care facility
- A woman from Wasatch County who was over 85 years old and was hospitalized when she died
- A man from Washington County who was over 85 years old and was not hospitalized when he died
- A man from Washington County who was between 65 and 84 years old and was hospitalized when he died
- A woman in Washington County who was over 85 years old and living in a long-term care facility
- A man from Weber County who was between 45 and 64 years old and was hospitalized when he died
- A woman from Weber County, who was between 65 and 84 years old and was not hospitalized when she died
- A man from Weber County who was between 65 and 84 years old and was not hospitalized when he died
- A man from Weber County who was over 85 years old and a resident of a long-term care institution
Thursday’s totals give Utah 297,317 confirmed cases in total, with 11,578 total hospitalizations and 1,359 total deaths from the disease. A total of 242,361 cases of Utah COVID-19 are now estimated to be recovered, according to the health department.
According to Jess Gomez, associate director of media relations for Intermountain Healthcare, 1,330 Utahns died of COVID-19 in 2020, becoming the third leading cause of death in the state, behind cancer and heart disease.
There is no COVID-19 press conference scheduled for Thursday. Spencer Cox, the governor of Utah, is scheduled to provide an update at a news conference Friday at 11:30 a.m., according to his office.
Hospitals “start to fill up again”
Earlier on Thursday, Intermountain Healthcare doctor, Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, presented an update on how the pandemic is currently affecting his hospital system and the evolution of the vaccine.
Stenehjem said the recent increase in the number of cases and test positivity rates is “exactly what we expected” after the Christmas and New Year holidays, but that it is straining hospital systems regardless.
“We hoped that our hospitalizations would go down even more (before the holidays), reach a lower level and then we would have more room to accommodate this growth,” Stenehjem said. “Unfortunately, this didn’t really happen. We had a bit of an improvement, we took some of the patients out of the ICU and upstairs, but now we’re starting to complete ourselves again.”
Utah considers its ICUs to be “functionally full”, with a capacity of 85%, which the state currently exceeds.
Stenehjem also said that the high rate of positivity of the state probably indicates the need for more people to be tested. “This tells us that the community’s transmission rate is high,” he said, “and tells us that we are probably under-tested. If we have so many positive people, we really need to test more people to get better control over what is happening to this epidemic here in Utah. “
Responding to concerns that coronavirus vaccines are given to employees who are not employed in health care, Stenehjem explained that the vaccine was also given to support staff and people who keep hospitals running.
“This includes all health workers,” he said. “It is to ensure that the medical infrastructure is stable.” The vaccine was available to workers such as lab staff, billing staff and custodians, as well as front-line workers, he said. “People who don’t face patients, but make sure our health networks can work and allow us to care for patients.”
The two vaccines approved for widespread use in the United States, manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna, have been made available for the first time to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. It will soon be available to workers in industries considered essential, starting with public school teachers.
contributing: Graham Dudley, KSL.com
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 health care.
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