SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah increased by 2,146 on Tuesday, with an additional 26 deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Fifteen of those deaths occurred before December 22, the health department said. The state coroner’s office conducts investigations into each death to determine COVID-19 as the cause, which can delay reporting of those deaths for several weeks.
There are now about 54,792 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah, the data from the health department show. The average number of positive cases per day for seven days is now 2,946, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that period is now 29.3%.
There are 560 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 187 in intensive care, state data show. About 85% of the beds in the intensive care unit in Utah were occupied on Tuesday, including about 89% of the ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals.
A total of 110,530 vaccines were administered in the state, compared with 103,547 on Monday.
The new figures indicate an increase of 0.7% in positive cases since Monday. Of the 1,843,113 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 16.9% tested positive for the disease. The total number of tests performed increased by 17,782 on Monday, and 11,991 of them were tests from people who had not taken the previous test for COVID-19.
Tuesday’s total gives Utah 309,629 confirmed cases, with 12,059 hospitalizations and 1,422 deaths from the disease. It is estimated that 253,415 Utah COVID-19 cases are now considered recovered.
There is no COVID-19 press conference scheduled for Tuesday. Utah officials often provide updates at press conferences once a week, on Wednesdays or Thursdays.
This story will be updated.
Methodology:
The test results now include data from PCR tests and antigen tests. Positive results from the COVID-19 test are reported to the health department immediately after they are confirmed, but negative test results can take 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 beginning of the Utah outbreak, including those who are infected, those who have recovered from the disease and those who have died.
Recovered cases are defined as anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 three or more weeks ago and has not died.
Referral hospitals are Utah’s 16 hospitals capable of providing the best COVID-19 healthcare.
Deaths reported by the state typically occurred two to seven days before they were reported, according to the health department. Some deaths can be even older, especially if the person is from Utah, but died in another state.
The health department reports deaths from confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases according to the case definition outlined by the State Council and Territorial Epidemiologists. Death counts are subject to change as case investigations are completed.
For deaths reported as deaths from COVID-19, the person would not have died if they did not have COVID-19, according to the health department.
The data included in this story mainly reflects the state of Utah as a whole. For more localized data, visit your local health district’s website.
More information about Utah’s health guidance levels is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels.
The information is from the Utah Department of Health and coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts. For more information on how the Utah Department of Health compiles 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.
Jacob Klopfenstein