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More than 30,000 Utahns received coronavirus vaccinations on Thursday as the total number of vaccinations rose closer to 1 million. And the number of residents who were fully vaccinated reached nearly 340,000.
However, not all news is good. The Utah Department of Health has reported two more deaths, and the number of Utahs hospitalized with COVID-19 has increased by 17.
Vaccinations administered in the past day / total vaccinations • 30,300 / 967,481.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 339 743.
Cases reported in the past day • 519.
Deaths reported in the past day • Two. Both were men in Salt Lake County: one between the ages of 45-64, the other 85 plus.
Hospitalizations reported in the past day • 184. This is from Thursday 17. Of those currently admitted to the hospital, 66 are in intensive care units – unchanged from Thursday.
Tests reported in the past day • 5,780 people were tested for the first time. A total of 13,535 people were tested.
Percentage of positive tests • According to the state’s original method, the rate is 9%. This is slightly higher than the seven-day average of 8.4%.
The new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. The rate of Friday is now at 3.8%, lower than the seven day average of 4.02%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Total to date • 377,492 cases; 2,017 deaths; 15,049 hospitalizations; 2,279,263 people were tested.
A leading Utah doctor said Friday that the recent decline in the number of COVID-19 cases should give Utahns hope, but he warned that the coronavirus could not follow the grids set by political leaders.
“There is no difference between April 9 and April 10 – it is a random date,” said Dr. Todd Vento, medical director of Intermountain Healthcare’s infectious disease services, said Friday during Intermountain’s weekly information session on Facebook Live.
April 10 is the date on which lawmakers in Utah will end the mandates for the entire mask, in a bill that passed both houses with a veto-resistant majority earlier this month. Government Spencer Cox is expected to sign the bill, despite expressing reservations about it.
“I will not consider anything other than my own personal protection and others’ personal protection on April 10,” Vento said. “If I’m not in public, I probably have to be careful when I go to a place where it’s 100% now and I do not know what their ventilation system is and people do not wear masks.”
Cox also stated that all adult Utahns are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by April 1st. President Joe Biden announced in a national television speech on Thursday that he was instructing countries to make the vaccine available to all adults by May 1st.
These dates “are all very positive signs,” Vento said. The optimistic schedule “reflects the fact that they know the pipeline [for vaccines] is quite increased, ”he said.
The statement from Biden on Thursday – that by 4 July there is a great chance that you, your families and friends, will be able to gather in your backyard or in your area and fry a hob or a meat and celebrate Independence Day. ”, is another optimistic remark. signal, Vento said.
“I thought he said it in a way to put a point of hope there, something to shoot forward,” Vento said. “But also the proviso: ‘Hey, we’m not there yet. ‘… That’s what we’re going for, but we still have work to do. ”
The work, Vento said, includes getting the vaccine when it’s available, and continuing to wear masks and social distances – even if government rules are lifted.
“We all want the black-and-white answer,” Vento said. “It’s gray. This is the real world. This virus has changed so much and taught us [so much] – unfortunately at the expense of individuals who become ill and die and are admitted to hospital. ‘