SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah jumped 901 on Wednesday, with 10 more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Six of the deaths occurred last month but were still under investigation by the medical examiner’s office, the health department said. The lonely death reported Tuesday, a man over 85 and hospitalized when he died, was removed from the total death count because investigators determined he was not a resident of Utah.
The health department now estimates there are 22,973 active cases of COVID-19 in the state. The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now 845, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that period, reported using the “people over people” method, is now 13.5%. The moving average positive test rate reported with the “test over test” method is now 6.1%.
There are now 263 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 99 in intensive care units, data shows. It is the first time that Utah has less than 100 COVID-19 patients in intensive care since October.
According to the health department, about 72% of all ICU hospital beds in Utah were occupied on Wednesday, including about 77% of the ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 49% of non-IC hospital beds are now occupied in Utah.
A total of 551,068 vaccines have been administered in the state, an increase from 532,985 on Tuesday. Of these, 173,925 are second doses of the vaccine.
The new numbers indicate an increase of 0.2% in positive cases since Tuesday. Of the 2,136,588 people tested for COVID-19 so far in Utah, 17.1% tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of tests conducted since the start of the pandemic has now risen to 3,631,393, up from 20,286 since Tuesday. Of those, 7,063 were tests from people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19.
The ten deaths reported Wednesday were:
- A Cache County woman who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was not hospitalized when she died
- A Carbon County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died
- Two men from Davis County who were over 85 and residents of long-term care facilities
- A Salt Lake County woman who was between the ages of 45 and 64 and was not hospitalized when she died
- A Salt Lake County woman who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when she died
- A Salt Lake County man who was between the ages of 44 and 65 and was not hospitalized when he died
- A Utah County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was not hospitalized when he died
- A Washington County man over the age of 85 living in a long-term care facility
- A Washington County woman over the age of 85 living in a long-term care facility
Wednesday’s totals give Utah a total of 363,248 confirmed cases, with 14,294 total hospitalizations and 1,806 total deaths from the disease. An estimated 338,469 Utah COVID-19 cases are now considered recovered, the health department reported.
There is no press conference on COVID-19 scheduled for Wednesday. The Utah government, Spencer Cox, is expected to provide a COVID-19 update during its monthly press conference with PBS Utah on Thursday at 10 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 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 “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 about Utah’s 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.