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More than 30,000 Utahns received coronavirus vaccines on Thursday, while the total number of vaccinations rose to close to 1 million. And the number of residents who have been fully vaccinated has reached almost 340,000.
Not all news is good, however. The Utah Department of Health reported two more deaths, and the number of Utahns hospitalized with COVID-19 jumped to 17.
Vaccinations given the day before / total vaccinations • 30,300 / 967,481.
Fully vaccinated Utahns • 339,743.
Cases reported the previous day • 519.
Deaths reported the day before • Two. Both were men from Salt Lake County: one aged 45 to 64, the other over 85.
Hospitalizations reported the previous day • 184. This is Thursday 17th. Of those currently hospitalized, 66 are in intensive care units – unchanged since Thursday.
Tests reported the day before • 5,780 people were tested for the first time. A total of 13,535 people were tested.
Percentage of positive tests • In the original state method, the rate is 9%. This is slightly higher than the 8.4% 7-day average.
His new method counts all test results, including repeated tests from the same individual. Friday’s rate is now 3.8%, below the seven-day average of 4.02%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Totals to date • 377,492 cases; 2,017 deaths; 15,049 hospitalizations; 2,279,263 people tested.
A senior Utah physician said on Friday that recent declines in the COVID-19 case count should give Utahns hope, but he warned that the coronavirus may not follow the schedules set by political leaders.
“There is no difference between April 9 and April 10 – it’s a random date,” said Dr. Todd Vento, medical director of infectious disease telehealth services at Intermountain Healthcare, during Intermountain’s weekly community briefing on Facebook Live.
April 10 is the date that Utah lawmakers set to end mask mandates across the state, in a bill that passed both houses with veto-proof majorities earlier this month. Governor Spencer Cox is expected to sign the bill, despite expressing reservations about it.
“I would not consider April 10 as something different, both in my own personal protection and in the personal protection of others,” said Vento. “If I’m in public, I should probably be careful if I’m going to a place that is 100% occupied now, and I don’t know their ventilation system and people aren’t wearing masks.”
Cox also stated that all Utahn adults will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by April 1. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday, in a speech broadcast on national television, that he is ordering states to make the vaccine available to all adults by May 1.
These dates “are all very positive signs,” said Vento. The optimistic schedule “reflects the fact that they know the pipeline [for vaccines] increased a lot, ”he said.
Biden’s statement on Thursday – that by July 4, “there is a good chance that you, your family and friends, can get together in your backyard or in your neighborhood and have a barbecue or barbecue and celebrate Independence Day. “- is another optimistic sign, said Vento.
“I thought he said that in order to put a point of hope out there, something to aim for,” said Vento. “But also the warning that, ‘Hey, we’re not done yet.’ … That’s what we want, but we still have work to do ”.
That work, said Vento, includes receiving the vaccine when available, continuing to wear masks and practicing social detachment – even when government rules are lifted.
“We all want the answer in black and white,” said Vento. “This is gray. This is the real world. This virus has changed a lot and taught us [so much] – unfortunately at the expense of individuals who get sick and die, and are hospitalized. “