SALT LAKE CITY – The portion of positive COVID-19 tests increased slightly over the weekend in Utah, but the prevalence of the disease is lower than in recent months.
The percentage of positive tests had been dropping since January, but had a slight increase on Sunday, reported the Utah Department of Health, with 6.3% of tests resulting in positive diagnoses on Sunday. The percentage reached 6.12% on Saturday.
The health department announced another 701 cases of COVID-19, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the state to 366,735 since March last year. Almost 2.2 million people have been tested a total of 3.7 million times, as the tests are carried out after possible exposure to the virus and then administered again after periods of quarantine or isolation.
Another 9,123 people in Utah received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday. And, according to the health department, the state administered a total of 607,557 doses of the vaccine, including 205,388 people who have already received two doses.
Currently, 241 people are being treated in hospitals across the state for complications caused by COVID-19. It is one person less hospitalized than reported on Saturday, and 14 less than Friday’s count, health department statistics show.
Since the pandemic first hit Utah in March, 14,445 people – or about 5% of all COVID-19 cases in Utah – have been hospitalized with the disease caused by the new coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2. Of these, almost 30% are over 85 years old and almost 20% are people between 65 and 84 years old, according to the health department.
Only 2% of hospitalized cases, about 800 people, required the use of a ventilator during treatment for COVID-19.
Hospitalizations have only recently fallen below the 77% usage notice. It was 76% on Sunday. The higher the number, the fewer beds in intensive care units available, but it also leads to a lack of qualified personnel and personnel to treat patients.
For months, Utah hospitals operated above these potentially dangerous limits, where health officials said difficult decisions should be made.
A drop in hospitalizations is likely to be followed by a drop in the number of deaths from COVID-19, although it may take weeks to see the correlation.
Another 10 deaths from COVID-19, seven of which occurred before February 1, were reported by the health department on Sunday. In Utah, 1,852 people have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Deaths reported on Sunday include:
- A Davis County woman aged 65 to 84 who was hospitalized when she died.
- A man from Davis County, 65-84, who was a resident of a long-term care facility.
- An Iron County man, aged 65 to 84, who was not hospitalized.
- A Sevier County woman over 85 who was a resident of a long-term care facility.
- Salt Lake County woman, 65-84, residing in a long-term care facility.
- A man from Salt Lake County, aged 65 to 84, residing in a long-term care facility.
- Salt Lake County woman, 65-84 years old, hospitalized.
- A Utah county man, aged 65 to 84, residing in a long-term care facility.
- A Utah county man over 85, not in hospital.
- A Utah county man, 65-84, hospitalized.