SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Department of Health reported 2,150 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 13 new deaths on Saturday in its daily publication of updated coronavirus statistics.
Six of those new deaths occurred before December 26, he said, and were added after further investigation. “The Office of the Medical Examiner conducts thorough investigations of all potential COVID-related deaths,” wrote the department in an email, “(e) these investigations may take several weeks to complete.”
The update brings Utah to a total of 322,252 confirmed cases and 1,485 deaths since the pandemic began. It is estimated that 56,521 of these cases are currently active.
Last week, the state had an average of 2,315 new confirmed cases per day and a positive test rate of 24.7%, which is lower than the 32.6% of the previous week, but still in a range that indicates a high probability of underreported dissemination by the community.
Currently, 581 Utahns are hospitalized due to COVID-19, including 231 in intensive care. Saturday’s figures arrive when an additional 10,460 people have been tested for the virus and about 26,000 new tests have been carried out overall, the health department said.
A total of 152,509 doses of vaccines have already been administered in the state, almost 10,000 more than yesterday.
The health department announced on Friday that it had detected a new variant of COVID-19 in Utah, found for the first time in the United Kingdom. The variant is believed to be more transmissible and easier to spread than previous iterations of the virus, but there is no evidence that it is more deadly. Health officials now believe that approved vaccines against coronavirus will be effective against the variant.
On Saturday, Utah health officials announced on Twitter they implanted a monoclonal antibody “attack team” for long-term treatment facilities that experience coronavirus outbreaks under the direction of Governor Spencer Cox. “The monoclonal antibodies to COVID-19 can block the virus that causes COVID- 19 connect to human cells “, they I wrote, “making it more difficult for the virus to reproduce and cause damage.”
Antibodies form naturally in the bodies of recovered patients, providing some immunity against future infections; Monoclonal antibodies are created in a laboratory to mimic this effect and have been approved by federal agencies as a preventive and treatment COVID-19.
The health department said its attack teams would administer 25 infusions at five different facilities on Saturday.
There is no press conference on coronavirus by state leaders scheduled for the weekend.
The 13 deaths reported on Saturday included:
- A Box Elder County man between 65 and 84 who was a resident of a long-term care institution
- A Davis County man over 85 who was hospitalized when he died
- A man from Garfield County between 65 and 84 who was a resident of a long-term care institution
- A man from Salt Lake County between 65 and 84 who was hospitalized
- A Salt Lake County woman over 85 who was a resident of a long-term institution
- A man from Sanpete County between 65 and 84 who was hospitalized
- A woman from Uintah County over 85 who was a resident of a long-term institution
- A Utah county man between 65 and 84 who was not hospitalized when he died
- A Utah county man between 65 and 84 who was hospitalized
- An Utah county woman over 85 who was a resident of a long-term care institution
- Washington County woman, aged 65 to 84, residing in a long-term care facility
- Two Washington County men aged 65 to 84 who resided in a long-term care facility
This week
- Friday: 2,543 more COVID-19 cases, 12 deaths reported Friday in Utah
- Thursday: Utah is still experiencing hiccups at the launch of the vaccine as the state sees 2,742 new cases of COVID-19, 11 deaths
- Wednesday: 2,899 more COVID-19 cases, 27 deaths reported Wednesday in Utah
- Tuesday: 2,146 more COVID-19 cases, 26 deaths reported on Tuesday in Utah
- Monday: 1,484 more COVID-19 cases, 4 deaths reported on Monday in Utah
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.
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Graham Dudley