Utah reports nearly 500 new COVID-19 cases and five more deaths

After a nine-month low, the number of new cases returns to the plateau.

Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to critical coronavirus stories. Sign up for our main news newsletter, sent to your inbox every morning of the week. To support journalism like this, please donate or become one subscriber.

The number of new COVID-19 cases recovered again on Tuesday, more than doubling after a nine-month low of 221 was reported in Utah on Monday. In the meantime, more than twice as many tests have been administered.

And after reporting that no new coronavirus-related deaths were reported on Monday, the death toll increased by five on Tuesday.

Vaccine doses administered the previous day / total doses administered • 16,373 / 1,027,073.

Fully vaccinated Utahns • 372,564.

Cases reported the day before • 481.

Deaths reported the day before • Five.

Washington County reported two deaths: a man aged 65 to 84 and a man aged 85 or older.

Three counties reported one death each: a 65- to 84-year-old woman in Salt Lake County, a woman in the same age group in Utah County and a man over 85 in Summit County;

Hospitalizations reported the previous day • 171. Increase by seven since Monday. Of those currently hospitalized, 55 are in intensive care units – four fewer than on Monday.

Tests reported the day before • 5,476 people were tested for the first time. A total of 15,610 people were tested.

Percentage of positive tests • In the original state method, the rate is 8.8%. This is slightly higher than the 8.3% seven-day average.

His new method counts all test results, including repeated tests from the same individual. Monday’s rate is now at 3.1%, below the seven-day average of 4.1%.

[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]

Totals to date • 379,081 cases; 2,032 deaths; 15,167 hospitalizations; 2,298,572 people tested.