SALT LAKE CITY – While Utah Governor Spencer Cox announced Thursday that more earlier-than-expected vaccines are eligible, he remained confidently optimistic that there will be a return to normal in the summer.
Cox gestured to his mask and stated forcefully that the days are numbered.
“I’m telling you, I’m not going to wear this (mask) on July 4th. I’m going to be in a parade somewhere,” Cox said at a press conference Thursday morning. “If I’m wrong, I’ll come here and admit I’m wrong, and we’ll do something else.”
The state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn of the Utah Department of Health remained more pragmatic. She said normalcy is “ certainly possible ” by the summer, but it will take an effort from everyone in the state to continue wearing masks, remain socially aloof, limit gatherings, and practice any other public health measures that state officials have been preaching for the past year.
At the press conference where Cox, always an avid optimist, became passionate about the current COVID-19 situation in Utah, the governor announced that residents of the state aged 16 and older with certain co-morbidities are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, a few days earlier than expected. That population accounts for about 240,000 Utahns, the governor added.
Previously, the eligibility date for Utahns with comorbidity was expected to be March 1, but Cox said these people are immediately eligible. The full list of co-morbidities that make people eligible for the vaccine is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/vaccine-distribution/#eligibility.
Although a recent Wall Street Journal analysis kills Utah as the last of all U.S. states for the percentage of the population that has had at least one dose of vaccine, Cox attributed that low percentage to Utah’s large population of children, who are not eligible to receive the vaccine not yet. A series of frigid winter storms in the Midwest and southern U.S. prevented a large shipment of Moderna vaccines from arriving in Utah, also bringing the state back, he said.
Cox said he is focusing on getting weapons into arms as soon as possible, especially for those more vulnerable populations, rather than looking at the population of the state as a whole.
“We are committed to accelerating eligibility where possible,” said Cox.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has only approved the Pfizer vaccine for people ages 16 and 17, Cox said. If people in that age group want to get the vaccine, they need to make an appointment at a vaccination center that supplies the Pfizer vaccine, the governor added. Not all vaccine clinics have the Pfizer vaccine, and a list of clinics that have it will be provided at coronavirus.utah.gov/vaccine.
Cox also announced on Thursday that people who want the vaccine will no longer have to wait to make an appointment in their home country. If you can find an appointment in another province, you can make an appointment there now. However, you must make your appointment for the second vaccination dose in the same county where you made your appointment for the first dose, Cox said.
Utah government Spencer Cox gave a COVID-19 pandemic update at a news conference on Thursday. The state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn of the Utah Department of Health is also spoken to at the press conference. Watch the replay here.
New COVID-19 cases
On Thursday, the number of COVID-19 cases in Utah increased by 832, with 11 more deaths and 18,563 more vaccinations, according to the Utah Department of Health. There are now an estimated 18,561 active COVID-19 cases in Utah.
Four of the deaths occurred last month but were still under investigation by the medical examiner’s office, the health department said. The state also reported 18,563 additional vaccinations on Thursday.
The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now 723, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that period reported with the “people over people” method is now 12.4%. The positive test rate per day over seven days calculated with the “test over test” method is now 5.7%.
There are currently 221 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Utah, including 87 in intensive care units, state data shows. About 74% of all beds in the Utah intensive care unit have been occupied as of Thursday, including about 77% of the intensive care beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 53% of non-IC hospital beds have been occupied in Utah since Thursday, state data shows.
A total of 660,444 vaccines were administered in the state, up from 641,881 on Wednesday. Of those, 229,526 are second doses of the vaccine, state data shows.
Thursday’s new numbers indicate a 0.2% increase in positive cases since Wednesday. Of the 2,189,176 people tested for COVID-19 so far in Utah, 16.9% tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of tests conducted rose to 3,765,520 Thursday, an increase of 21,176 from Wednesday. Of those, 8,582 were tests from people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19.
The 11 deaths reported Thursday were:
- A Davis County woman who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when she died
- A Davis County woman over the age of 85 living in a long-term care facility
- A Salt Lake County man between the ages of 65 and 84 who was hospitalized when he died
- A Salt Lake County man who was between the ages of 25 and 44 and was not hospitalized when he died
- A Tooele County woman who was between the ages of 45 and 64 and was not hospitalized when she died
- A Tooele County woman over the age of 85 who was hospitalized when she died
- A Utah county who was over 85 and lived in a long-term care facility
- A woman in Utah County who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and lived in a long-term care facility
- A Utah County man over the age of 85 living in a long-term care facility
- A woman from Weber County who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when she died
- A Weber County man who was between the ages of 45 and 64 and was not hospitalized when he died
Thursday’s totals give Utah a total of 369,433 confirmed cases, with 14,597 total hospitalizations and 1,890 total deaths from the disease. A total of 348,982 Utah COVID-19 cases are now estimated to have been recovered.
This story is being updated.