SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah increased by 1,761 on Thursday, with no more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
The average number of positive cases per day over seven days is now 1,710, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that period is now 18.3%.
Also on Thursday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox and other state leaders are providing an update on the pandemic COVID-19 at a news conference. Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson and Utah State Department of Health epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn also spoke at the event.
The event started at 11am. Watch the replay of the press conference below.
New COVID-19 cases
The health department now estimates that there are 43,187 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah.
In addition to several holidays on which the state health department has not provided a COVID-19 statistics report, Thursday is the first day that Utah has recorded zero new COVID-19 deaths since September.
The new figures indicate an increase of 0.5% in positive cases since Wednesday. Of the 2,000,023 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 17.1% tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of tests performed increased by 18,134 on Thursday, and 10,917 of them were tests from people who had not taken the previous test for COVID-19, according to state data.
There are now 444 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 157 in intensive care, state data show. About 84% of Utah’s ICU beds are occupied Thursday, including about 89% of the ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 56% of Utah’s non-ICU hospital beds are occupied, according to the health department.
267,027 vaccines have already been administered in the state, compared to 250,448 on Wednesday. Of these, 43,089 are doses of second vaccine, state data show.
Thursday’s total gives Utah 342,445 confirmed cases, with 13,279 hospitalizations and 1,620 deaths from the disease. A total of 297,638 Utah COVID-19 cases are now considered recovered, according to the health department.
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