Salt Lake County begins scheduling vaccine appointments for anyone aged 16 and over.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Nurse Ashley Hafer fills syringes with the Modern vaccine for people in line on Thursday, March 18, 2021, while Utah Film Studios lends its space to the Summit County Health Department as a COVID drive-thru 19 vaccination post.
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After a slow Sunday, when only 4,144 Utahns were tested for COVID-19, the state reported the fewest new cases in 10 months – just 159. And there were no new deaths added to the state total.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – and confirmed by the Utah Department of Health – Utah registered its first case of the P.1, or Brazilian, variant of the coronavirus. This variant is believed to be more easily transmissible, more severe and possibly more resistant to current vaccines. No information about the Utahn who hired him has been released.
On Monday, Salt Lake County became the first in the state to start scheduling appointments for anyone aged 16 and over – and was doing good business in preparing vaccines.
At 9:00 am, the county health department opened 46,760 appointments for the month of April; at 5 pm, he had booked 18,590 of them. Therefore, more than 28,000 remain, with April 13 the oldest available date.
(The Salt Lake County Department of Health defined the number of consultations based on the number of vaccines it expects to receive, not the capacity of its locations.)
Last week, Governor Spencer Cox announced that, starting on Wednesday, anyone 16 and older will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. They are now available to anyone aged 50 and over, and to some people aged 16 and over if they have pre-existing illnesses.
Other counties in the state are expected to start scheduling their new round of consultations on Wednesday.
Vaccine doses administered the previous day / total doses administered • 2,496 / 1,154,778.
Fully vaccinated Utahns • 419,623.
Cases reported the previous day • 159.
Deaths reported the day before • None.
Hospitalizations reported the previous day • 147. That hasn’t changed since Sunday. Of those currently hospitalized, 52 are in intensive care units – the same as on Sunday.
Tests reported the day before • 2,333 people were tested for the first time. A total of 4,144 people were tested.
Percentage of positive tests • In the original state method, the rate is 6.8%. This is less than the 7-day average of 8%.
His new method counts all test results, including repeated tests from the same individual. Monday’s rate is now at 3.8%, slightly below the seven-day average of 4.1%.
Totals to date • 381,788 cases; 2,062 deaths; 15,293 hospitalizations; 2,334,049 people tested.