The state reports another death caused by the coronavirus.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Nurse Ashley Hafer fills syringes with the Moderna vaccine for humans scheduled for Thursday, March 18, 2021, while Utah Film Studios lends its space to the Summit County Health Department as a driveway by COVID -19 vaccination station.
Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune offers free access to critical stories about the coronavirus. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, is sent to your mailbox every weekday morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.
Utah includes three-quarters of a million people who have been completely vaccinated against the coronavirus – that is now nearly 742,000.
The state also reported another death on Thursday. While the number of new cases has remained relatively high – more than 450 – only three deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported in the past five days.
Vaccine doses administered in the past day / total doses administered • 40,578 / 1,808,824.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 741,819.
Cases reported in the past day • 456.
Deaths reported in the past day • One – a woman between the ages of 45 and 64 in Salt Lake County.
Tests reported in the past day • 7 124 people were tested for the first time. A total of 18,714 people were tested.
Hospitalizations reported in the past day • 146. These are two from Wednesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 57 are is in vigilance units – two less than Wednesday.
Percentage of positive tests • According to the state’s original method, the rate is 6.4%. This is lower than the seven-day average of 7.4%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Tuesday’s rate was 2.4%, lower than the seven-day average of 3.7%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Total to date • 391,633 cases; 2,162 deaths; 15,859 hospitalizations; 2,470,828 people were tested.
Government Spencer Cox on Thursday issued an executive order eliminating the 90-day waiting period for people who had COVID-19 to get a vaccine. The news release attached to the order states that the Utah Department of Health recommends that people be fully recovered before receiving the vaccine.