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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Department of Health Saturday is reporting 661 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one death from the disease in the state.
The numbers bring Utah up to 37,623 total cases of the new coronavirus and 274 deaths since the pandemic began. In an email, health department spokesperson Jenny Johnson said the deceased Utahn was a Davis County man between ages 65 and 84 who was a resident of a long-term care facility.
The seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 cases is now 615; Utah Gov. Gary Herbert had aimed for the state to get that number below 500 by Aug. 1, or he would consider imposing more restrictions on the state, but Friday's high case count made that goal more difficult.
The seven-day rolling positive test percentage is at 9.2%.
Currently, the health department says 202 Utahns are hospitalized due to the coronavirus, and 79 of those patients are in the intensive care unit. Fully one-quarter of Utahns over age 85 who've had the new coronavirus have required hospitalization for it, but that number drops to 21.5% of adults ages 65 to 84, and then drastically down to 9.3% of adults age 45 to 64.
Almost 70% of Utah's coronavirus deaths were individuals over age 65; the average age has been just over 72.
The virus' threat to the elderly makes long-term care facility outbreaks especially concerning. Almost 300 Utah facilities have been impacted by COVID-19, the health department says. Currently the department believes there are active COVID-19 cases at 29 different long-term care facilities.
While the most recent estimates show 12,788 of the state's total cases are considered active, 24,390 are considered recovered by department methodology. More than half a million Utahns have now been tested for COVID-19.
Salt Lake County accounted for 280 of Saturday's new cases; Utah County had 160.
Methodology:
Test results now include data from PCR tests and antigen tests. Positive COVID-19 test results are reported to the health department immediately after they are confirmed, but negative test results may not be reported for 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 Utah's outbreak began, including those who are currently infected, those who have recovered from the disease, and those who have died.
Recovered cases are defined as anyone who was diagnosed with COVID-19 three or more weeks ago and has not died.
Deaths reported by the state typically occurred two to seven days prior to when they are reported, according to the health department. Some deaths may be from even further back, especially if the person is from Utah but has died in another state.
The health department reports both confirmed and probable COVID-19 case deaths per the case definition outlined by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. The death counts are subject to change as case investigations are completed.
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.
