SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Department of Health said there are 778 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and eight more coronavirus-related deaths in the state on Saturday.
The state has also administered an additional 18,383 doses of the coronavirus vaccine since Friday.
Overall, this leads Utah to 366,034 confirmed cases, 1,842 deaths and 598,434 vaccines administered since the pandemic began. The health department says 200,651 of those vaccines were secondary doses.
Last week, Utah recorded an average of 779 more cases of COVID-19 per day and a positive test rate of 6.12%. There are currently 242 Utahns hospitalized due to COVID-19, including 99 in intensive care. This is contributing to an ICU utilization rate of 77% across the state.
A month ago, the state had a continuous average of 1,924 cases per day and 551 people were hospitalized.
Saturday’s numbers arrive when 19,646 more test results have been reported.
Deaths announced in Saturday’s report include:
- A woman from Salt Lake County over 85 who was not hospitalized when she died
- Two Salt Lake County men aged 65 to 85 who were hospitalized when they died
- A man from Salt Lake County between 46 and 64 who was hospitalized
- A woman from Salt Lake County between 65 and 84 who was hospitalized
- A Utah county woman between 45 and 64 who was hospitalized
- A Weber County woman over 85 who was hospitalized
- Weber County woman aged 65 to 84 who was hospitalized
Salt Lake County is now responsible for nearly 40% of coronavirus-related deaths in Utah.
There is no press conference on coronavirus by state leaders scheduled for the weekend. Governor Spencer Cox addressed the public on Thursday, announcing that Utahns aged 65 and over are now eligible to apply for the coronavirus vaccine.
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 “people over people” method for the average seven-day positive test rate is calculated by dividing the number of people 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 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.