SALT LAKE CITY – More than a million Utahns have now received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, state officials announced Wednesday.
A total of 1,013,308 state residents have now received either their first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the Utah Department of Health said in a Wednesday press release.
“This is a milestone worth celebrating and we hope this number will continue to rise as more and more Utahns choose to be vaccinated,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox said in the publication. “The speed at which we have been able to vaccinate Utahns is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Utah public health system and our national vaccination partners,” he added.
The health department initially reported that about 66% of the eligible population has now received at least one dose of the vaccine, but later clarified that only about 44% of the eligible population now has at least one dose.
According to the health authority, the number of COVID-19 cases in Utah jumped 612 on Wednesday, with two more deaths and 34,814 more vaccinations. The health department estimates that there are now 8,975 active COVID-19 cases in Utah.
The moving seven-day average number of positive cases per day now stands at 401, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that period, calculated with the “people over people” method, is now 7.2%. The positive test rate per day for that period, calculated with the “test over test” method, is now 3.5%.
There are currently 140 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Utah, including 55 in intensive care units, state data shows. About 69% of all intensive care beds are now occupied in Utah, including about 72% of the ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals, state data shows. About 52% of non-IC hospital beds are now occupied in the state, health department data shows.
A total of 1,561,167 vaccine doses have been administered in the state, up from 1,526,353 Tuesday. In addition to the 1,013,308 Utahns who received at least one vaccine dose, 599,972 are now considered fully vaccinated, according to the health department. A total of 1,835,670 vaccine doses have been shipped to Utah so far.
The new numbers indicate an increase of 0.2% in positive cases since Tuesday. Of the 2,424,457 people tested for COVID-19 so far in Utah, 16% have tested positive for COVID-19. The number of tests conducted has risen to 4,323,919, up from 18,522 since Tuesday, state data shows. Of those, 7,246 were tests from people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19.
The two deaths reported Wednesday were:
- A Salt Lake County man aged between 45 and 64 who was hospitalized when he died
- A Washington County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was not hospitalized when he died
Wednesday’s totals give Utah a total of 388,426 confirmed cases, with 15,675 total hospitalizations and 2,139 total deaths from the disease. According to the health department, an estimated 377,312 Utah COVID-19 cases are now considered recovered.
Utah’s pandemic “endgame” law, formally known as House Bill 294, requires all state and local health ordinances related to COVID-19 to end the day Utah hits the threshold in three key metrics: the State’s 14-Day Case is less than 191 per 100,000 people, the seven-day average of COVID-19 intensive care unit use is less than 15%, and 1,633,000 prime doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been assigned to Utah.
As of Wednesday, Utah meets the benchmark in the first two stats, but has a long way to go to hit the threshold for the third. The state’s 14-day case rate is now 178.2, and the seven-day COVID-19 ICU usage average is 9.4%.
Only 992,325 prime doses have been assigned to Utah as of this week, according to health officials. The 1,633,000 threshold is expected to be reached by the second or third week of May, health officials say.
The primary dose allocation in Utah is updated weekly and differs from the number of people who have received one dose of the vaccine, which is updated daily. Since the number of people who received one dose is updated more often than the primary dose allocation, it is ahead of the primary dose allocation metric and the two often do not match.
Therefore, while the state reports on Wednesday that 1,013,308 Utahns have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the lead dose allotment for this week stands at 992,325. The first dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, as well as the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, are considered prime doses.
Also on Wednesday, the Salt Lake County Council announced it would not renew the county’s mask mandate beyond April 10, with a few exceptions. However, Salt Lake City’s mask mandate will continue after that date, Mayor Erin Mendenhall said.
