SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose 590 on Wednesday, with three more deaths and 34,472 reported vaccinations, according to the Utah Department of Health.
The Department of Health estimates that there are now 8552 active cases of the disease in Utah. The average continuous number of seven positive days a day is now 384, according to the health department. The positive daily test rate for that period calculated using the “people over people” method is now 6.2%. The positive daily test rate for that period calculated with the “test over test” method is now 3%.
There are 146 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 58 in intensive care, state data show. About 61% of all hospital beds in Utah intensive care units are occupied, with approximately 65% of all intensive care beds in 16 state reference hospitals occupied. About 51% of all non-ICU hospital beds are occupied in the state, state data show.
A total of 1,950,894 doses of the vaccine were administered in the state, up from 1,916,922 on Tuesday. A total of 1,217,167 Utahns have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 819,683 are now fully vaccinated. A total of 2,180,690 doses of vaccine have been shipped to Utah so far.
About 51.2% of vaccine-eligible Utahs aged 16 and over have now received at least one dose of vaccine, and 34.5% of the state’s vaccine-eligible population is now fully vaccinated. About 38% of Utah’s total population, including children under the age of 16 who are not currently eligible for the vaccine, have now received at least one dose, and 25.6% of the population is now fully vaccinated.
The new figures indicate a 0.2% increase in positive cases on Wednesday. Of the 2,505,996 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 15.7% tested positive for the disease. The total number of tests conducted since the beginning of the pandemic is now 4,525,584, up from 15,496 on Tuesday. Of these, 4,057 were tests in people who had not been previously tested for COVID-19, according to the health department.
The three deaths reported on Wednesday were:
- A man from Davis County, who was between 65 and 84 years old and was hospitalized when he died
- A woman from Iron County, who was between 65 and 84 years old and was hospitalized when she died
- A woman from Utah County who was between 25 and 44 years old and was hospitalized when she died
Wednesday’s totals give Utah 393,862 confirmed cases, with 15,981 hospitalizations in total and 2,177 deaths in total due to the disease. An estimated 383,133 cases of Utah COVID-19 are now considered recovered, according to the health department.
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.
Utah’s endgame pandemic bill, HB294, requires all state and local health orders related to COVID-19 to end on the day Utah reaches the threshold in three key values: the state’s 14-day case rate is less than 191 per 100,000 people, the seven-day average use of the COVID-19 intensive care unit is less than 15%, and 1,633,000 prime doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been allocated in Utah.
The state meets the HB294 benchmark in the first two statistics starting Wednesday. The 14-day case rate in Utah is now 169.9 per 100,000 people, and the average seven-day use of COVID-19 ICU is now 11.1%.
A total of 1,335,645 prime doses have been allocated in Utah to date. The state is expected to meet 1,633,000 main reference doses by the second or third week of May, according to health officials. The first dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine cycles, as well as the only Johnson & Johnson vaccine dose, are considered primary doses.
