SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose 1,761 on Thursday, with no more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
According to the health department, the average number of positive cases per day for seven days is now 1,710. The positive daily test rate for that time period is now 18.3%.
Also Thursday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox and other state leaders offered an update on the COVID-19 pandemic at a news conference. Lt. Government Deidre Henderson and the Utah Department of Health, state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn also spoke at the event.
The event started at 11 am Watch the resumption of the press conference below.
New COVID-19 case
The Department of Health estimates that there are now 43,187 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah.
Aside from several holidays in which the state Department of Health did not provide a COVID-19 statistics report, Thursday is the first day Utah has reported zero new COVID-19 deaths since September.
The new figures indicate a 0.5% increase in positive cases on Wednesday. Of the 2,000,023 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah to date, 17.1% tested positive for the disease. The total number of tests performed increased by 18,134 since Thursday, and 10,917 of them were tests in people who had not been previously tested for COVID-19, according to state data.
There are 444 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 157 in intensive care, state data show. About 84% of UTI beds in Utah are occupied on Thursday, including about 89% of UTI beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 56 percent of Utah’s non-ICU hospital beds are occupied, according to the health department.
A total of 267,027 vaccines were administered in the state, up from 250,448 on Wednesday. Of these, 43,089 are secondary doses, state data show.
Thursday’s totals give Utah a total of 342,445 confirmed cases, with a total of 13,279 hospitalizations and a total of 1,620 deaths from the disease. A total of 297,638 cases of Utah COVID-19 are now considered recovered, according to the health department.
This story will be updated.
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 COVID-19 cases since the onset of the Utah outbreak, including those currently infected, those recovering 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 healthcare.
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