SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Department of Health reported 2,150 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 13 new deaths in the daily release of updated coronavirus statistics on Saturday.
Six of those new deaths occurred before Dec. 26, it said, and were added after further investigation. “The Office of the Medical Examiner is thoroughly investigating all possible COVID-related deaths,” the department wrote in an email, “(and) these investigations may take several weeks to complete.”
The update puts Utah at 322,252 confirmed cases and 1,485 deaths since the start of the pandemic. An estimated 56,521 of those cases are currently active.
Over the past week, the state has averaged 2,315 new confirmed cases per day and a rolling positive test rate of 24.7%, which is down from 32.6% a week ago, but still in a range that points to a high likelihood of under-reporting by the community.
Currently 581 Utahns are hospitalized because of COVID-19, including 231 in intensive care. Saturday’s figures come as 10,460 more people were tested for the virus and a total of about 26,000 new tests were performed, the health department says.
In total, there are now 152,509 vaccine doses administered in the state, nearly 10,000 more than yesterday.
The health department announced on Friday that it has discovered a new variant of COVID-19 in Utah, one that was first found in the UK.The variant is believed to be more transmissible and easier to spread than previous recurrences of the virus, but there is no evidence that it is more deadly. Health officials currently believe the approved coronavirus vaccines will be effective against the variant.
Saturday, Utah health officials announced on Twitter they have deployed a “strike team” with monoclonal antibodies to long-term care facilities dealing with coronavirus outbreaks as directed by Government Spencer Cox. “Monoclonal antibodies to COVID-19 can block the virus that causes COVID-19 to attach to human cells” wrote, “making it more difficult for the virus to reproduce and cause damage.”
Antibodies are naturally formed in the body of recovered patients, providing some immunity against future infections; monoclonal antibodies are made in a lab to mimic this effect and are approved by federal agencies as a COVID-19 preventative and treatment.
The health department said his strike teams were scheduled to administer 25 IVs in five different facilities on Saturday.
No press conference on the coronavirus from state leaders is scheduled for this weekend.
The 13 deaths reported Saturday included:
- A Box Elder County man aged 65 to 84 who lived in a long-term care facility
- A Davis County man over 85 who was hospitalized when he died
- A Garfield County man aged 65 to 84 who lived in a long-term care facility
- A Salt Lake County man aged 65 to 84 who was hospitalized
- A Salt Lake County woman over 85 living in a long-term care facility
- A man from Sanpete County aged 65 to 84 who was hospitalized
- A woman over 85 in Uintah County living in a long-term care facility
- A Utah County man aged between 65 and 84 who was not hospitalized when he died
- A man aged 65 to 84 in Utah County who was hospitalized
- A woman over 85 in Utah County who lived in a long-term care facility
- A woman in Washington County aged 65 to 84 who lived in a long-term care facility
- Two Washington County men aged 65 to 84 living in long-term care facilities
This week
- Friday: 2,543 more COVID-19 cases, 12 deaths reported Friday in Utah
- Thursday: Utah is still working on hiccups in vaccine rollout as the state sees 2,742 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths
- Wednesday: 2,899 more COVID-19 cases, 27 deaths reported Wednesday in Utah
- Tuesday: 2,146 more COVID-19 cases, 26 deaths reported Tuesday in Utah
- Monday: 1,484 more COVID-19 cases, 4 deaths reported Monday in Utah
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 set forth 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 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.
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Graham Dudley