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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's number of COVID-19 cases has increased by 901 on Wednesday, with 10 more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Six of the deaths happened last month but were still being investigated by the state medical examiner's office, the health department said. The lone death reported Tuesday, a man who was over the age of 85 and hospitalized when he died, was removed from the total death counts because investigators determined he was not a Utah resident.
The health department now estimates there are 22,973 active cases of COVID-19 in the state. The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now at 845, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that time period reported through the "people over people" method is now 13.5%. The rolling average positive test rate reported with the "test over test" method is now 6.1%.
There are now 263 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 99 in intensive care, state data shows. It is the first time Utah has had under 100 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units since October.
About 72% of all Utah ICU hospital beds are occupied Wednesday, including about 77% of ICU beds in the state's 16 referral hospitals, according to the health department. About 49% of non-ICU hospital beds are now occupied in Utah.
A total of 551,068 vaccines have been administered in the state, up from 532,985 Tuesday. Of those, 173,925 are second doses of the vaccine.
The new numbers indicate a 0.2% increase in positive cases since Tuesday. Of the 2,136,588 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 17.1% have tested positive for COVID-19. The number of total tests conducted since the beginning of the pandemic has now increased to 3,631,393 — up 20,286 since Tuesday. Of those, 7,063 were tests of people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19.
The ten deaths reported Wednesday were:
- A Cache County woman who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was not hospitalized when she died
- A Carbon County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died
- Two Davis County men who were over the age of 85 and were residents of long-term care facilities
- A Salt Lake County woman who was between the ages of 45 and 64 and was not hospitalized when she died
- A Salt Lake County woman who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when she died
- A Salt Lake County man who was between the ages of 44 and 65 and was not hospitalized when he died
- A Utah County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was not hospitalized when he died
- A Washington County man who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
- A Washington County woman who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
Wednesday's totals give Utah 363,248 total confirmed cases, with 14,294 total hospitalizations and 1,806 total deaths from the disease. An estimated 338,469 Utah COVID-19 cases are now being considered recovered, the health department reported.
There is no COVID-19 news conference scheduled for Wednesday. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is expected to provide a COVID-19 update during his monthly news conference with PBS Utah at 10 a.m. Thursday.
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.
Referral hospitals are the 16 Utah hospitals with the capability to provide the best COVID-19 health care.
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.
For deaths that are reported as COVID-19 deaths, the person would not have died if they did not have COVID-19, according to the health department.
The "people over people" method for the seven-day average positive test rate is calculated by dividing the number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 by the total number of people tested. The "test over test" method is calculated by dividing the total number of positive tests by the total number of tests administered.
Data included in this story primarily reflects the state of Utah as a whole. For more localized data, visit your local health district's website.
More information about Utah's health guidance levels is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels.
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.
