SALT LAKE CITY – Government Spencer Cox, Utah, announced Thursday that admission to the COVID-19 vaccine will be extended to Utahs 50 years and older, as well as residents of the state with more underlying health conditions, which begin Monday.
In addition to the Utahns age of 50 years and older, residents with type 1 or 2 diabetes, a body mass index of more than 30, or chronic kidney disease may also be eligible for the vaccine. People in the groups – about 700,000 Utahns – could start getting vaccinated on Monday, Cox said.
“It’s a big addition to the suitability,” Cox said.
With the latest fitness expansion on Monday, all Utahns ages 50 and older can get vaccinations, as well as all leading health care workers, first responders, K-12 teachers and staff, and long-term care facilities. residents and staff. Utahns 16 years and older who have certain underlying health conditions are also eligible for the vaccine.
Full details on vaccine admission are available at coronavirus.utah.gov/vaccine.
The first doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be administered in Utah on Thursday, Cox said. It is the third vaccine approved by the federal government for use in the United States, along with vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna.
About 125,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Utah in the past week – the largest so far in a single week in the state, Cox said. About 75% of people 70 years and older have had at least one dose of vaccine, and about 52% of the 65-69 age group have now received at least one dose, the governor added.
According to Utah surveys, about 78% of state residents are willing to get the vaccine, Cox said. It is estimated that between 60-80% of the population needs to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity, say health officials.
Cox estimated Thursday that every adult in Utah who wants a vaccine will be able to get it in April.
“We need to continue to take this disease seriously,” Cox said. “I’m always going to focus on getting our people vaccinated.”
Government Spencer Cox, Utah, provided an update on the COVID-19 pandemic at a news conference Thursday morning. Lieutenant Government Deidre Henderson and the State Epidemiologist of the Department of Health, dr. Angela Dunn, also spoke during the event.
Watch the repeat of the news conference below.
Provinces shifting transfer levels
After Salt Lake and Davis counties spent months on Utah’s highest limit for COVID-19 on Thursday, the governor announced.
The provinces of Cache, Grand, Sanpete and Wasatch also moved from the high transmission level to the moderate Thursday. Some provinces have been rated at the high transfer level since the state started using the transfer index system last fall.
Eleven counties remain at the high transmission level: Beaver, Carbon, Emery, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Uintah and Utah, according to the Utah Department of Health. Box Elder, Duchesne, Juab, Morgan, San Juan, Washington and Weber are also in the moderate transfer level, while the provinces of Daggett, Millard, Piute, Rich and Wayne are at the low level.
For provinces declining to the moderate level, restrictions will be weakened as infection rates continue to decline during the past month.
“We can start opening things up in a big way, and that’s good news for our economy,” Cox said.
For provinces with a moderate level of transmission, social gatherings are no longer limited to a certain number of people, as long as all people at the gathering wear masks, although the state still recommends that gatherings be limited to 25 people or less. Masks are still needed for public indoor establishments and for outdoor establishments when social distance is not possible.
For restaurants in moderate provinces for transfer level, distance of 6 feet is still required between parties in waiting areas. Masks are needed for visitors to restaurants unless they are actively eating or drinking. In pubs, customers must wear masks if they are within 6 feet of another party, and must wear them unless they are eating or drinking.
More information on restrictions in all three transmission index levels is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels.
New cases COVID-19
According to the Utah Department of Health, Utah’s COVID-19 cases increased by 611 on Thursday, with 12 more deaths and nearly 26,000 more vaccinations. Seven of the deaths occurred before February 11, but are still being investigated by the state medical examiner’s office, according to the health department.
According to the Department of Health, there are an estimated 15,077 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah.
The health department reported that the average number of positive cases per day on seven days is 558. Angela Dunn, state epidemiologist at the health department, took it down from 723 last week.
The positive test rate per day for the period reported using the “people over people” method is now 10%, up from 12.8% last week, Dunn added. The positive test rate per day of seven days, calculated using the ‘test over test’ method, is now 4.8%; it was 5.7% last week.
Thursday was the first time Utah’s ‘people-on-people’ test rate has been reported at 10% or lower since Sept. 7, according to the Department of Health. A huge increase in Utah COVID-19 cases follows and continues into the rest of 2020 before business starts to decline in the new year.
There are 203 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 87 in intensive care. About 70% of all intensive care units in Utah are now occupied, including 74% of the beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals, state data shows. About 53% of the non-ICU hospital beds in Utah are occupied.
A total of 785,523 vaccines were administered in the state, up from 741,297 on Wednesday. A total of 277,717 people have now been fully vaccinated, while 507,954 have received at least one dose. A total of 978,570 vaccine doses have now been delivered to Utah, according to data from the Department of Health.
The state’s coronavirus data panel previously broke down the vaccination numbers between the first and second doses. Since the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a single-dose vaccine, while the Pfizer and Modern vaccines require two doses, the state dashboard now shows the number of people who received one vaccine dose, and the number of people who were fully vaccinated. .
Dunn reiterated on Thursday that all three vaccines are safe and effective despite the differences in the way they are administered.
“The best vaccine for you is the one you can get first, regardless of the manufacturer,” she said.
The new figures point to a 0.2% increase in positive cases since Wednesday. Of the 2,230,041 people tested so far for COVID-19 in Utah, 16.7% tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of tests carried out since the start of the pandemic is now at 3,867,952, compared to 18,363 compared to Wednesday. Of those, 7,286 were tests of people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19, according to the Department of Health.
The twelve deaths reported on Thursday include:
- A Box Elder County man aged between 65 and 84 who was admitted to hospital when he died
- A Davis County man over the age of 85 who was a resident of a long-term care facility
- A Salt Lake County woman over the age of 85 who was not hospitalized when she died
- A Salt Lake County man who was between 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died
- A Utah County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died
- Two Utah County men over the age of 85 who were not hospitalized when they died
- Two men in Utah County who were over 85 and residents of long-term care facilities
- A Weber County man who was between 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died
- A Weber County woman over the age of 85 who was a resident of a long-term care facility
- A Weber County woman who was between 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when she died
Two deaths reported on Feb. 23 as a Cache County woman and a Davis County man were removed from the COVID-19 deaths in Utah, according to the Department of Health, after further investigation by medical investigators.
The total Thursday total gives 373,319 confirmed cases in Utah, with 14,816 hospitalizations and 1,965 total deaths due to the disease.
This story will be updated.
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