SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose 699 on Wednesday, with five more deaths and 27,654 reported vaccinations, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Four of the deaths occurred before Feb. 17, but were still being investigated by the state doctor’s office, the health department said.
The Department of Health now estimates that there are 11,550 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah. The average continuous number of seven positive days a day is now 499, according to the health department. The positive daily test rate for that period compared to the ‘people over people’ method is now 8.3%. The positive seven-day average test rate calculated using the ‘test-by-test’ method is now 4.1%.
There are 180 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 63 in intensive care, state data show. About 73% of the beds in intensive care units in Utah are now occupied, including about 75% of the ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 52 percent of non-ICU hospital beds are now occupied in Utah, state data show.
A total of 1,054,727 doses of the vaccine were administered in the state, up from 1,027,073 on Tuesday. A total of 696,178 Utahns received at least one dose of vaccine, and 384,054 were fully vaccinated. As of Wednesday, a total of 1,250,160 doses of the vaccine have been shipped to Utah.
The new figures indicate a 0.2% increase in positive cases on Tuesday. Of the 2,307,238 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah to date, 16.5% tested positive for the disease. The total number of tests performed since the beginning of the pandemic is now 4,049,577, increasing by 19,892 on Tuesday. Of these, 8,666 were tests in people who had not been previously tested for COVID-19, according to the health department.
The five deaths reported on Wednesday were:
- A woman in Salt Lake County who was over 85 years old and a resident of a long-term care facility
- A man from San Juan County who was between 45 and 64 years old and a resident of a long-term care institution
- A Utah County woman between the ages of 65 and 84 living in a long-term care facility
- A man from Washington County who was between 65 and 84 years old and a resident of a long-term care institution
- A woman from Weber County, aged between 65 and 84, who lived in a long-term care facility
Wednesday’s totals give Utah 379,780 confirmed cases in total, with 15,198 total hospitalizations and 2,037 total deaths from the disease. A total of 366,193 cases in Utah COVID-19 are now estimated to be recovered, according to the health department.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox is scheduled to deliver a pandemic update Thursday at 10 a.m. during his monthly press conference with PBS Utah.