SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah increased by 1,761 on Thursday, and according to the Utah Department of Health, no more deaths were reported.
According to the Department of Health, the current average number of seven-day positive cases per day is now at 1,710. The positive test rate per day for that period is now 18.3%.
Utah Government Spencer Cox and other state leaders are also offering an update on the COVID-19 pandemic at a news conference. Lieutenant Government Deidre Henderson and the State Epidemiologist of the Department of Health, dr. Angela Dunn, also spoke during the event.
The event started at 11am Watch the rerun of the news conference below.
New cases COVID-19
The Department of Health now estimates that there are now 43,187 active COVID-19 cases in Utah.
Aside from several holidays where the Department of Health did not provide a COVID-19 statistics report, Thursday is the first day Utah has not reported any new COVID-19 deaths since September.
The new numbers point to a 0.5% increase in positive cases since Wednesday. Of the 2,000,023 people tested so far for COVID-19 in Utah, 17.1% tested positive for COVID-19. The number of tests performed has increased by 18,134 since Thursday, of which 10,917 were tests of people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19, according to state data.
There are now 444 COVID-19 patients currently being admitted to Utah, including 157 in intensive care, according to state data. About 84% of Utah’s ICU beds were occupied on Thursday, including about 89% of ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 56% of Utah’s hospital beds that are not under ICUs are occupied, according to the Department of Health.
A total of 267,027 vaccines were administered in the state, compared to 250,448 on Wednesday. Of these, 43,089 are second doses of vaccines, state data show.
The total Thursday total gives Utah 342,445 total confirmed cases, with 13,279 total hospitalizations and 1,620 total deaths due to the disease. A total of 297,638 Utah COVID-19 cases are now considered recovery, according to the Department of Health.
This story will be updated.
Methods:
Test results now contain 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 may not be reported 24 to 72 hours.
The total number of cases reported each day by the Utah Department of Health includes all cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak of Utah, 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.
Reference hospitals are the 16 Utah hospitals that can provide the best COVID-19 health care.
According to the Department of Health, deaths usually occurred two to seven days before they were reported. Some deaths can come back even further, especially if the person is from Utah but died in another state.
According to the Department of Health, as well as likely COVID-19 deaths are confirmed as defined by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. The death rates could change as case investigations are completed.
For deaths reported as COVID-19 deaths, the person would not have died if they had not had COVID-19, according to the Department of Health.
Data included in this story primarily reflects the state of Utah as a whole. Visit the website of your local health district for more localized data.
More information on Utah’s health education levels is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels.
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 browse to the “Data Notes” section at the bottom of the page.
Jacob Klopfenstein