State health officials on Sunday report 1,585 new cases, eight deaths.
(Rick Bowmer | The Associated Press) James Lennox, IT technical support specialist for the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind, will receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the Davis County Legacy Center Tuesday, January 12, 2021 in Farmington, Utah. Utah began to vaccinate teachers and school personnel across the state. They aim to have all teachers and school staff vaccinated by the end of February.
Among the hospitals in Utah that specialize in COVID-19 – places like the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City and the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray – there are normally a total of 453 intensive care beds available for patients.
Now the 453 IC beds in those referral centers are full – and then some. On Sunday, the Utah Department of Health reported that 458 ICU beds were occupied in the state, meaning the places that specialize in treating the coronavirus have a 101.3% capacity.
The percentage of all statewide IC beds is also at a critical level, namely 97.4%, or 515 of the 529 available as of Sunday’s data release.
On Saturday, Utah broke the record for the number of COVID-19 patients currently in the ICU with 231. That number dropped to 226 on Sunday. For reference, the seven-day period ending Sunday started January 11 with 188 COVID-19. patients.
Through Sunday, the state has administered 157,170 total doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. That number includes the 142,368 Utahns who received their first doses, and the 14,802 Utahns who received both doses.
The fact that the state reported 1,585 cases on Sunday could be taken as good news. In the last seven days, 17,838 positive cases have been reported. The 1,585 cases on Sunday are the next few days reported during those seven days, including 5,188 on Wednesday, and two other days that exceeded 2,500.
In addition, 1,585 is the second lowest figure for positive cases dating back to the end of December.
The eight deaths reported Sunday are part of the 101 deaths in the past seven days. The death toll in Utah has stood at 1,493 since the start of the pandemic. Just as the number of cases is currently declining, eight reported deaths in a day can be considered progress after the week saw a high of 27 deaths on Wednesday.
Utah’s seven-day moving average for positive tests is 2209 per day, bringing the seven-day average for percent of positive lab tests to 22.6%. That latter figure places Utah in the top five of all 50 states as of Sunday.
The 7,199 tests reported on Sunday bring the total to 1,902,260.