SALT LAKE CITY – The average number of confirmed cases fell slightly again after the Utah Department of Health released its daily COVID-19 report on Saturday.
However, earlier this week, health experts warned against a potential increase after Sunday’s Super Bowl meetings.
The health department reported 1,211 new cases on Saturday, as well as five more deaths caused by COVID-19, including three women and two men, all but one over 65.
The total number of people in Utah who have contracted the disease since its emergence in late 2019 is 353,700. In addition, it killed 1,733 people in Utah.
The continuous average number of cases per day over seven days is 1,183, with an average percentage of positive tests now at 16.2%, down from 16.3% on Friday and 18% in the previous week.
There are 335 people hospitalized, which is also less than 349 supposedly hospitalized on Friday, and significantly less than the 430 hospitalized with COVID-19 last week, according to the state health department. Since the start of the pandemic, 13,828 people have been hospitalized in Utah. Hospitals hovered dangerously close to or in capacity throughout December and much of January, and are still about 80% full, according to health department statistics available online at coronavirus.utah.gov.
The state tested 2,070,190 people for the new coronavirus, which has a high transmission rate across the state, except in two counties where transmission is low – Piute and Daggett counties.
A statewide masking mandate remains in effect, in public and where social detachment is not possible.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox announced on Thursday what lies ahead for the state’s vaccination plan. He said eligibility would be open to Utahns aged 65 and over, as well as anyone with a variety of health problems, on March 1.
He said he hopes everyone will have the opportunity to get a COVID-19 vaccine by the summer.
So far, 404,085 people in Utah have received vaccines against rampant disease, including 21,204 since Friday’s report from the department of health, which is overseeing vaccination efforts across the state.
In addition to wearing two masks or upgrading to a N95 or KN95 type mask, health officials have warned against meeting anyone outside the home for the Super Bowl parties this weekend. The most contagious variants of the COVID-19 are circulating in Utah, making the situation a little more risky for anyone meeting.
A third confirmed case of the United Kingdom’s SARS-CoV-2 variant was announced earlier this week in Utah, although officials say there was more. The state health department is running genetic sequencing to identify variants of the virus in only about 10% of positive test results at the moment.
New COVID-19 deaths reported on Saturday include:
- Salt Lake County woman, over 85, who was not hospitalized at the time of her death.
- A woman from Tooele County between 45 and 64 who was a resident of a long-term care institution.
- A Millard County woman over 85 who was not hospitalized.
- A man from Weber County between 65 and 84 who was hospitalized.
- A man from Uintah County between 65 and 84 who was hospitalized.
New cases of COVID-19 reported on Saturday by the health district:
- Salt Lake County, 417
- Utah County, 248
- Davis County, 172
- Southwest Utah, 117
- Weber-Morgan, 79
- Bear River, 79
- Tooele County, 26
- Summit County, 25
- Wasatch County, 15
- Central Utah, 14
- TriCounty (Uinta Basin), 14
- Southeast Utah, 6
- San Juan County, 3