SALT LAKE CITY – Utahns ages 65 to 69 are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, several weeks earlier than expected.
All vaccine providers will now accept appointments from those 65 and older, Utah Governor Spencer Cox announced during a COVID-19 pandemic update at a news conference Thursday morning.
The vaccinations are progressing quickly, especially in the past week, Cox said. About 62% of Utahns ages 70 and older have now had their first vaccine dose, and some individual counties have vaccinated higher rates of that age group, the governor added.
This allowed the state to extend eligibility to people 65 and older before March 1, the previous date for extension to that age group.
“We’ve made incredible progress in the last month,” said Cox.
People can go to coronavirus.utah.gov to schedule a vaccination appointment. Thursday’s extension doesn’t apply to people with co-morbidities – those people are still eligible as of March 1. The list of vaccine-eligible comorbidities is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/vaccine.
Some counties still have more vaccine doses available than others, and it will likely take a long time to get a vaccine appointment with the expanded eligibility, Cox added. He urged Utahns to remain patient while they try to get vaccinated.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox spoke at a press conference with PBS Utah Thursday morning. Watch the event replay below.
New COVID-19 cases
According to the Utah Department of Health, the number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose by 1,151 on Thursday, with seven more dead.
The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now 830, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that period reported with the “people over people” method is now 13.6%. The positive test rate per day over seven days calculated with the “test over test” method is now 6.3%.
There are now 258 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 105 in intensive care units, data shows. About 74% of the beds in the Utah intensive care unit were occupied as of Thursday, including about 78% of the intensive care beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. According to the health department, about 54% of non-intensive care hospital beds are now occupied.
A total of 563,608 vaccines were administered in the state, up from 551,068 on Wednesday. Of those, 179,458 are second doses of the vaccine, state data shows.
The new numbers indicate an increase of 0.3% in positive cases since Wednesday. Of the 2,144,709 people who have been tested for COVID-19 in Utah to date, 17% have tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of tests conducted rose to 3,652,448 Thursday, up from 21,055 since Wednesday. Of those, 8,121 were tests from people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19.
The seven deaths reported Thursday were:
- A Cache County woman who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and lived in a long-term care facility
- A Grand County man between the ages of 45 and 64 who was hospitalized when he died
- Three men from Salt Lake County, ages 65 to 84, were hospitalized when they died
- A Utah County man over the age of 85 who was hospitalized when he died
- A woman from Weber County who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when she died
Thursday’s totals give Utah a total of 364,399 confirmed cases, with 14,343 total hospitalizations and 1,813 total deaths from the disease.
Several counties moved the classification on Utah’s transmission index this week. The health department reviews a county’s current COVID-19 situation every Wednesday and announces any adjustments on Thursday. The provinces are now organized as follows:
- High transmission level: Beaver, Cache, Davis, Emery, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Salt Lake, Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Utah, Wasatch and Washington counties
- Moderate transmission level: Box Elder, Carbon, Duchesne, Millard, Morgan, San Juan, Uintah and Weber
- Low transmission level: Daggett, Garfield, Piute, Rich and Wayne
Vaccinations are on the rise
The number of coronavirus cases in Utah has started to decline in recent weeks as vaccinations have increased. On Wednesday, the state reported fewer than 100 COVID-19 patients in intensive care for the first time since October.
Utah’s vaccination allocation is increasing every week and currently stands at about 45,000 doses delivered to the state every week, Cox said.
According to the governor, a total of 563,608 doses have now been administered in Utah. That’s up from 551,068 Wednesday and nearly 101,000 over the past week, he added.
Utah’s one-day vaccination record was 24,618 doses administered on Feb. 11. The state still uses any vaccine dose within seven days of shipping to Utah, he said.
About 91% of residents of long-term care facilities have now been vaccinated, the governor said. The majority of COVID-19 deaths in Utah are from that population, so it’s encouraging to see such a high number of vaccinations among that group, he added. Of the 62% of Utahns ages 70 and older who have had at least one dose of the vaccine, about 15% have had a second dose, Cox said.
Cox said he still expects every adult in Utah who wants a COVID-19 vaccine will be able to get one by April or May.
“We feel very good about that,” he said.
There are about 130,000 people in the 65-69 age group, so at a rate of 45,000 doses per week, vaccinating that group will take several weeks, Cox added. The state will continue to expand vaccine eligibility by age group, so the 60-64 age group will likely be the next eligible population, he said. However, he did not provide a timeline for when the eligibility would be expanded to that next group.
While Cox added that the state has no plans to make vaccines for Utahns mandatory, he urged people to get them when they qualify so the state can continue to see the number of COVID-19 cases decline .
“We all have a duty to protect each other, that’s just how it works,” said Cox.
Vaccine rollouts in Salt Lake County differ
Although Cox announced that all Utahns 65 and older are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, Salt Lake County’s rollout to that age group will differ slightly.
Salt Lake County residents aged 69 and older will be eligible for the vaccine from 6 p.m. Thursday, the Salt Lake County Health Department announced. Inhabitants of the province of 68 years and older are eligible to make an appointment from Friday 6 pm.
Eligibility will be gradually opened up to the remaining age groups every day over the weekend. Eligibility for people 67 and older begins on Saturday at 6:00 PM, people 66 and older are eligible from 6:00 PM on Sunday, and those 65 and older are eligible from 6:00 PM Monday.
People still have to make arrangements with the health department; walk-ins are currently not available. For more information and to make an appointment, visit SaltLakeHealth.org and click on “COVID Vaccine Information.”
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, 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 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 “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. To learn more about 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.