SALT LAKE CITY – After the start of New Year’s Day, the Utah Department of Health’s first report in 2021 shows 5,042 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 25 new deaths in the state.
According to the department, 3,110 of these cases, and nine of the deaths, would have been reported on Friday.
With the update, Utah has now seen 281,654 confirmed cases and 1,294 deaths due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. According to the Department of Health, 14,900 more Utahns were tested over Thursday’s numbers and that 1,740,903 Utahns were tested overall.
There are currently 487 Utahns in the hospital due to the coronavirus, including 152 in intensive care, and 11,101 total hospitalizations since the Utah pandemic reached last year.
Over the past week, the state has averaged 2,506 new reported cases per day and a positive test rate of 27.4%.
Amid concerns about the speed of deployment of the two approved coronavirus vaccines, Utah reported Saturday that 46,374 doses of vaccine have been administered so far. That’s more than 16,000 doses of the number reported on New Year’s Eve; both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require multiple doses.
There is no coronavirus news conference of state leaders scheduled for the weekend. Gary Herbert, who led most of the news conferences in 2020, is stepping down and will be formally replaced by Spencer Cox on Monday.
We will report 46,374 vaccines administered. Remember, ‘Dose administered’ is the number of vaccine doses given to humans and reported to the UDOH. There will be a delay between when vaccines are sent, administered to someone and finally reported to us.
– Utah Dept. of Health (@UtahDepOfHealth) 2 January 2021
The 25 deaths reported in the past two days include six Salt Lake County residents:
- Two men between 65 and 84 who were residents of a long-term care facility
- Two women between 65 and 84 who were admitted to hospital when they died
- A man between 65 and 84 admitted to hospital
- A woman over 85 admitted to hospital
It also contains six Davis County residents:
- A man between 65 and 84 admitted to hospital
- A woman between 25 and 44 who was not admitted to hospital
- Three men over the age of 85 who were residents of a long-term care facility
- A woman between 65 and 84 who was a resident of a long-term care facility
Washington, San Juan, Utah and Uintah provinces have also seen several deaths, with others spread across the state:
- A Washington County woman over 85 who was a resident of a long-term care facility
- A Washington County man between 45 and 64 years old admitted to hospital
- A Washington County man between 65 and 84 admitted to hospital
- A Utah County woman over 85 who was a resident of a long-term care facility
- A man in Utah County over the age of 85 who was a resident of a long-term care facility
- A Uintah County woman over the age of 85 who has not been admitted to hospital
- A Uintah County man between the ages of 65 and 84 admitted to hospital
- A San Juan County woman between the ages of 25 and 44 admitted to hospital
- A man in San Juan province between 25 and 44 admitted to hospital
- A Box Elder County woman between the ages of 65 and 84 admitted to hospital
- A Weber County woman between the ages of 45 and 64 who was not admitted to the hospital
- A Duchesne County man aged between 65 and 84 admitted to hospital
- A Sanpete County woman between the ages of 65 and 84 admitted to hospital
An email from the Utah Department of Health misrepresented the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the state. it corrected the number in a follow-up email.
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.
The Department of Health reports both confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths according to the definition of the case set out 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.
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Graham Dudley