The number of new cases of COVID continues to fall as more than 200,000 Utahns are reported to be fully vaccinated

by

The Utah Department of Health reported 778 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jordan school district employees were invited to West Hills High School to receive coronavirus vaccination on February 12, 2021.

| February 20, 2021, 8:24 p.m.

Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune provides free access to critical coronavirus stories. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every morning of the week. To support this kind of journalism, please Donate or become a subscriber.

With more than 200,000 Utahns now fully vaccinated, the number of COVID-19 cases in the state continues to fall, with the weekly average falling below 800 for the first time since September.

Saturday was the first time the Utah Department of Health reported that the state exceeded the 200,000 mark for the number of Utahns who received two doses of coronavirus vaccine. The positivity rate for tests continues to decline, as does the number of people still in hospital with COVID-19. It is now at 242. The last time the number of hospitalizations was so low was October 9th.

Vaccinations reported in previous / total day vaccinations 18,383 / 598,434.

Number of Utahns who received two doses • 200,651.

Cases reported the other day • 778.

Deaths reported last day • Eight.

Five of those who died lived in Salt Lake County. A woman over the age of 85 was not hospitalized at the time of her death. The remaining four died in a hospital: two men and a woman aged between 65 and 84 and a man between 45 and 64.

Two women from Weber County died, both of whom were hospitalized. One woman was over 85 years old, the other was between 65 and 84 years old. A woman from Utah County, who was between 45 and 64 years old, died at a hospital.

Hospitalizations reported last day • 242. Decreased 13 on Friday. Of those currently hospitalized, 99 are in intensive care units – four fewer than on Friday.

Tests reported the other day • 6,892 people were tested for the first time.

Percentage of positive tests • According to the initial state method, the rate is 11.2%. This is lower than the seven-day average of 13.6%.

His new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Saturday’s rate is now 3.9%, lower than the seven-day average of 6.12%.

[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]

Totals so far • 366,034 cases; 1,842 deaths; 14,421 hospitalizations; 2,158,136 people tested.

.Source