SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose by 1,299 on Wednesday, with 17 more deaths, according to the Utah Department of Health.
The health department estimates there are 29,337 active cases of the disease on Wednesday – the first day the estimate has fallen below 30,000 since Oct. 28.
Utah Department of Health executive director Rich Saunders told the Utah Senate Health and Human Services Committee Wednesday afternoon that Utah will have sufficient doses to vaccinate every Utahn before June, according to Deseret News.
“We will reach the entire adult population, if 100% of them wanted to, by the end of May,” said Saunders.
The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day now stands at 1,053, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that period, reported using the “people over people” method, is now 15.3%. The positive test rate per day for that period reported via the “test over test” method is now 7%.
This week, the health department began reporting two different methods of calculating the seven-day moving average positive test rate per day. The “people over people” method is calculated by dividing the number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 by the total number of people tested. The health department uses that method to calculate the moving average since the start of the pandemic.
The agency now also reports the “test over test” method, which is calculated by dividing the total number of positive tests by the total number of tests administered. The “test over test” method is responsible for double positive and negative COVID-19 tests, while the “people over people” method does not.
The “people over people” method biases the mean higher, while the “test over test” method is lower, and the true mean is believed to be somewhere in the middle, according to epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn from the health department. The health department will continue to provide both methods of reporting on a daily basis, making the Utah pandemic better compared to that of other states, Dunn said.
There are currently 323 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Utah, including 131 in intensive care units, state data shows. According to state data, about 80% of all beds in the Utah intensive care unit are occupied, including about 84% of the intensive care beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 53% of Utah’s non-IC hospital beds were filled on Wednesday.
A total of 442,476 vaccines have been administered in the state, up from 425,698 Tuesday. Of these, 117,305 are second doses of the vaccine.
The new numbers indicate an increase of 0.4% in positive cases since Tuesday. Of the 2,094,809 people who have been tested for COVID-19 so far in Utah, 17.1% have tested positive for COVID-19.
The total number of COVID-19 conducted in Utah since the start of the pandemic, including double positive and negative tests, is now 3,522,246. That’s an increase from 23,334 tests conducted since Tuesday, and 8,988 of those were tests from people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19.
The 17 deaths reported Wednesday were:
- A Box Elder County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died
- A woman from Box Elder County who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and lived in a long-term care facility
- A Carbon County woman over the age of 85 who was hospitalized when she died
- A man from Cache County who was over 85 and was hospitalized when he died
- A Salt Lake County man over the age of 85 who was hospitalized when he died
- A Salt Lake County man over the age of 85 living in a long-term care facility
- A Salt Lake County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was not hospitalized when he died
- A Salt Lake County woman over the age of 85 living in a long-term care facility
- A man from Tooele County who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died
- A Utah County woman who was over 85 and living in a long-term care facility
- A Utah County man over the age of 85 who was hospitalized when he died
- A Utah County man over the age of 85 living in a long-term care facility
- A Wasatch County woman over the age of 85 living in a long-term care facility
- A Weber County man between the ages of 45 and 64 who was hospitalized when he died
- A Weber County woman over the age of 85 living in a long-term care facility
- A Weber County man over the age of 85 who was hospitalized when he died
- A Weber County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and lived in a long-term care facility
Wednesday’s totals give Utah 357,339 total confirmed cases, with 14,007 total hospitalizations and 1,765 total deaths from the disease. An estimated 326,237 Utah COVID-19 cases are now considered recovered, the health department reported.
No press conference on COVID-19 is scheduled for Wednesday. The Utah government, Spencer Cox, will provide a pandemic update Thursday at 11 a.m.
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 they were reported, the health department said. 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 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.