SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah increased by 901 on Wednesday, with 10 more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Six of the deaths occurred last month, but are still being investigated by the state’s medical examiner, the health department said. The only death reported on Tuesday, a man over 85 years old and hospitalized when he died was removed from the total death count because investigators determined he was not a Utah resident.
The health department now estimates that there are 22,973 active cases of COVID-19 in the state. The average number of positive cases per day for seven days is now 845, according to the health department. The rate of positive test per day for that period of time reported by the “people over people” method is now 13.5%. The moving average positive test rate reported with the “test on test” method is now 6.1%.
There are now 263 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Utah, including 99 in intensive care, state data show. It is the first time that Utah has had fewer than 100 patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units since October.
About 72% of all Utah ICU beds are occupied on Wednesday, including about 77% of the ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals, according to the health department. About 49% of hospital beds outside the ICU are now occupied in Utah.
551,068 vaccines have already been administered in the state, compared to 532,985 Tuesday. Of these, 173,925 are second doses of the vaccine.
The new figures indicate an increase of 0.2% in positive cases since Tuesday. Of the 2,136,588 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 17.1% tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of tests performed since the start of the pandemic has now increased to 3,631,393 – an increase from 20,286 since Tuesday. Of these, 7,063 were tests from people who had not taken the previous test for COVID-19.
The ten deaths reported on Wednesday were:
- A woman from Cache County who was between 65 and 84 years old and was not hospitalized when she died
- A man from Carbon County who was between 65 and 84 years old and was hospitalized when he died
- Two Davis County men over 85 years old and living in long-term care facilities
- A woman from Salt Lake County who was between 45 and 64 years old and was not hospitalized when she died
- Salt Lake County woman aged 65 to 84 who was hospitalized when she died
- A man from Salt Lake County who was between 44 and 65 years old and was not hospitalized when he died
- A Utah County man who was aged 65 to 84 and was not hospitalized when he died
- A Washington County man who was over 85 years old and was a resident of a long-term institution
- A Washington County woman over 85 years old and a resident of a long-term care institution
Wednesday’s totals give Utah 363,248 confirmed cases, with 14,294 hospitalizations and 1,806 deaths from the disease. It is estimated that 338,469 Utah COVID-19 cases are being considered recovered, the health department said.
There is no COVID-19 press conference scheduled for Wednesday. Utah Governor Spencer Cox is expected to provide an update on COVID-19 during his monthly press conference with PBS Utah at 10 am on Thursday.
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 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 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.