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More than 30,000 Utahns received vaccinations against the coronavirus on Thursday, while the total number of vaccinations got closer to 1 million. And the number of residents fully vaccinated reached nearly 340,000.
But not all news is good. The Utah Department of Health reported two more deaths, and the number of Utahns hospitalized with COVID-19 increased by 17.
Vaccinations administered in the past day / total vaccinations • 30,300 / 967,481.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 339,743.
Cases reported in the past day • 519.
Deaths reported in the past day • Two. Both were men from Salt Lake County, one aged 45-64, the other over 85.
Hospital admissions reported in the past day • 184. That is 17 higher than Thursday. Of those currently hospitalized, 66 are in intensive care units – unchanged from Thursday.
Tests reported in the past day • 5,780 people were tested for the first time. A total of 13,535 people were tested.
Percentage of positive tests • According to the state’s original method, the rate is 9%. That is slightly higher than the seven-day average of 8.4%.
The new method counts all test results, including repeated tests from the same person. Friday’s rate is now at 3.8%, lower than the seven-day average of 4.02%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Totals so far • 377,492 cases; 2017 dead; 15,049 hospital admissions; 2,279,263 people tested.
A prominent Utah physician said on Friday that recent declines in COVID-19 cases should give Utahns hope, but he warned that the coronavirus may not follow the timetables set by political leaders.
“There’s no difference between April 9 and April 10 – it’s an arbitrary date,” said Dr. Todd Vento, medical director of Intermountain Healthcare’s telecare services, Friday at Intermountain’s weekly community briefing on Facebook Live.
April 10 is the date Utah lawmakers ended statewide mask mandates, in a bill that earlier this month passed both houses by majority veto. Governor Spencer Cox is expected to sign the bill, despite his reservations.
“I wouldn’t view April 10 as anything other than my own personal protection and the personal protection of others,” said Vento. “When I’m out in public I probably have to be careful going to a place that’s 100% occupied right now, and I don’t know their ventilation system, and people don’t wear masks.”
Cox has also stated that all adult Utahns will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by April 1. President Joe Biden announced in a national televised address on Thursday that he is ordering states to make the vaccine available to all adults by May 1.
Those dates “are all very positive signs,” Vento said. The optimistic schedule “reflects the fact that they know the pipeline [for vaccines] has increased considerably, ”he said.
Biden’s statement Thursday – that by July 4, “Chances are you, your family and friends, will get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a cookout or a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day” – is another optimistic signal, Vento said. .
“I thought he said it a certain way to get a point of hope out of it, something to shoot at,” said Vento. But also the caveat that, ‘Hey, we’re not sure yet. ‘… That’s what we’re going for, but we still have work to do. “
That work, Vento said, includes getting the vaccine when it’s available, and continuing to wear masks and practice social aloofness – even when government regulations are lifted.
“We all want the black and white answer,” Vento said. ‘This is gray. This is the real world. This virus has changed so much and taught us [so much] – unfortunately at the expense of people who get sick and die and are hospitalized. “