SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Department of Health said there are 778 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and eight other coronavirus-related deaths in the state Saturday.
The state has also administered 18,383 additional doses of the coronavirus vaccine since Friday.
In total, that brings Utah to 366,034 confirmed cases, 1,842 deaths and 598,434 vaccines administered since the start of the pandemic. The health department says 200,651 of those vaccines were second doses.
In the past week, Utah has an average of 779 more COVID-19 cases per day and a positive test rate of 6.12%. There are currently 242 Utahns hospitalized for COVID-19, including 99 in intensive care. That contributes to an ICU occupancy rate of 77% statewide.
A month ago, the state had a rolling seven-day average of 1,924 cases per day and 551 people were hospitalized.
Saturday’s figures come as 19,646 more test results were reported.
The deaths announced in Saturday’s report include:
- A Salt Lake County woman over 85 who was not hospitalized when she died
- Two men from Salt Lake County between the ages of 65 and 85 who were hospitalized when they died
- A man in Salt Lake County aged 46 to 64 who was hospitalized
- A woman in Salt Lake County between the ages of 65 and 84 who was hospitalized
- A woman in Utah County between the ages of 45 and 64 who was hospitalized
- A woman over 85 from Weber County who was hospitalized
- A woman from Weber County between the ages of 65 and 84 who was hospitalized
Salt Lake County is now responsible for nearly 40% of coronavirus-related deaths in Utah.
No press conference on the coronavirus from state leaders is scheduled this weekend. Gov. Spencer Cox addressed the public on Thursday, announcing that Utahns 65 and older are now eligible to sign up for the coronavirus vaccine.
Methodology:
The test results now include data from PCR tests and antigen tests. Positive COVID-19 test results will be reported to the health department immediately upon confirmation, but negative test results may not be reported for 24 to 72 hours.
The total number of cases reported by the Utah Department of Health each day includes all cases of COVID-19 since the Utah outbreak began, including those currently infected, those who have recovered 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 has not died.
Referral hospitals are the 16 hospitals in Utah that can provide the best COVID-19 healthcare.
Deaths reported by the state usually occurred two to seven days before reporting, according to the health department. Some deaths can be even further back, especially if the person is from Utah but died in another state.
The health department reports both confirmed and probable deaths from COVID-19 according to the case definition outlined by the Council of State and territorial epidemiologists. Death rates are subject to change as the investigation of the case is completed.
For deaths reported as COVID-19 deaths, the person would not have died if they had not had COVID-19, according to the health department.
The “people over people” method for the seven-day mean positive test rate is calculated by dividing the number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 by the total number of people tested. The “test over test” method is calculated by dividing the total number of positive tests by the total number of tests administered.
The data in this story primarily reflects the state of Utah as a whole. Visit your local health district website for more localized information.
More information on Utah health guidelines is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels.
Information is from the Utah Department of Health and coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts. For more information on how the Utah Department of Health collects and reports COVID-19 data, visit coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts and scroll down to the “Data Notes” section at the bottom of the page.