SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Governor Spencer Cox announced on Thursday that eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine will be expanded to Utahns aged 50 and over, as well as state residents with more comorbidities, starting Monday -market.
In addition to Utahns aged 50 or over, residents with type 1 or 2 diabetes, body mass index over 30 or chronic kidney disease will also be eligible for the vaccine.
“This is a big addition to eligibility,” said Cox.
After spending months at Utah’s highest restriction level for COVID-19, Salt Lake and Davis counties will move to the moderate transmission level on Thursday, tThe governor also announced. This means that restrictions will be loosened in both counties as infection rates continued to drop across the state in the past month.
For counties with a moderate level of transmission, it is recommended that social gatherings be limited to 25 people or less. Masks are still necessary for public indoor environments and for outdoor environments, when social distance is not possible.
For restaurants in moderate transmission counties, a 6-foot spacing between parties in the waiting areas is still required. Masks are required in restaurants for customers, unless they are actively eating or drinking. In bars, customers must wear masks if they are less than 2 meters from another party and must wear them, except for eating or drinking.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah increased by 611 on Thursday, with an additional 12 deaths and almost 26,000 more vaccinations reported, according to the Utah Department of Health. Seven of the deaths occurred before February 11, but were still being investigated by the state medical examiner’s office, according to the health department.
The average number of positive cases per day for seven days is now 558, according to the health department. The rate of positive test per day for that period of time reported with the “people over people” method is now 10%. The positive test rate per day, averaged over seven days, calculated using the “test on test” method is now 4.8%.
There are 203 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, state data show. A total of 785,523 vaccines were administered in the state, compared to 741,297 on Wednesday.
Thursday’s total gives Utah 373,319 confirmed cases, with 14,816 hospitalizations and 1,965 deaths from the disease.
The Utah Governor Spencer Cox pandemic update COVID-19 started at 11 am and is being broadcast live here.
Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson and Utah State Department of Health epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn are also expected to speak at the event.
This story will be updated.