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For the second day in a row, more than 40,000 COVID-19 vaccines were administered in Utah. And the number of fully vaccinated individuals is now more than 540,000.
At the same time, the Utah Department of Health reported six more deaths from the coronavirus. All six were patients 65 years of age and older, and four of the deaths occurred before March 1 and were only recently confirmed as related to COVID-19.
The number of cases in Utah has risen to levels not seen since September, said Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, infectious diseases physician at Intermountain Healthcare, Friday. “This is a good place for us to be in Utah right now.”
Vaccine Doses Administered Over the Last Day / Total Doses Administered • 40,049 / 1,450,263.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 541,293.
Cases reported in the past day • 422
Deaths reported in the past day • Six.
Salt Lake County reported two deaths: a man and a woman, each between the ages of 65 and 84.
Four other counties each reported one death: a woman 65-84 in Davis County, a woman 65-84 in Millard County, a woman 85-plus in Utah County, and a man 85-plus in Weber County.
Tests reported in the past day • 5,761 people were first tested. A total of 14,258 people were tested.
Hospital admissions reported in the past day • 138. There are two more starting Thursday. Of those currently hospitalized, 46 are in intensive care units – four less than on Thursday.
Percentage of positive tests • According to the state’s original method, the rate is 7.3%. That is slightly higher than the seven-day average of 6.9%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests from the same person. Friday’s rate was 3.0%, lower than the seven-day average of 3.4%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Totals so far • 386,550 cases; 2,131 dead; 15,573 hospital admissions; 2,400,410 people tested.
“This is a time to be optimistic,” said Stenehjem. ‘Our business is ending. They’ve reached a plateau … back to the levels we had at the start of the pandemic, around September. Our number of hospital admissions has certainly improved. “
Health experts are concerned, Stenehjem said Friday during Intermountain’s weekly COVID-19 community briefing on Facebook Live, that spring break – and new variants of the coronavirus – could trigger a “fourth wave” of cases. Still, “an increase in the number of cases at this point may look different from an increase in November and December,” said Stenehjem, as fewer older people are likely to get sick from being vaccinated against the virus.
Utah is a week away from April 10, the date Utah political leaders would end the statewide mask mandate, but Stenehjem advised Utahns to continue wearing their masks and to distance themselves in public.
“There will be no difference in community transfer between April 9 and April 10,” said Stenehjem.
Intermountain’s rules require visitors, patients and staff to wear masks – and those rules will remain in effect after April 10, Stenehjem said. “We’ll take the masks off when epidemiology tells us it’s okay to do that,” he said.
Although Governor Cox signed the bill passed by the Utah legislature ending the mask mandate on April 10, he still thinks masks are a good idea. In a memo this week, Cox told state officials that they will wear masks in their state offices through May 31.
Also on Friday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that it is providing Utah more than $ 17.1 million in additional government support for the state’s response to COVID-19. Funding was made available after a declaration of major disasters released on Sunday.
To date, FEMA has provided Utah with a total of $ 108.5 million to support the state’s COVID-19 response. Information about FEMA’s public utility is available at www.fema.gov/assistance/public.