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SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly 12,000 kids between the ages of 5 and 11 were vaccinated Monday in Utah. They are the latest to become eligible for the vaccine, as official federal approval was granted last week.
That means about 3% of all children in Utah have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Utah Department of Health.
The state administered 16,851 vaccines since Monday's report, bringing the total number of vaccines given in the state to 3.85 million since they became available late last year. An estimated 55% of all Utahns are now reported to be fully vaccinated, with about 62% of all Utahns having received at least one dose.
Utah health officials also reported 1,558 new COVID-19 cases and 13 new deaths on Tuesday.
School-aged children account for 350 of the newly announced cases. Of those, 173 cases were in children ages 5-10, 76 in children ages 11-13, and 101 were in children ages 14-17.
In the last 28 days, the health department estimates that people who were unvaccinated have been at 16 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19, 11.2 times greater risk of being hospitalized due to the disease, and 4.8 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 than vaccinated people.
Since Feb. 1, people in Utah who are unvaccinated are at 8.4 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19, 7.1 times greater risk of being hospitalized due to COVID-19, and 3.5 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 than vaccinated people.
Another 6,200 people were tested for COVID-19 on Monday and the rolling, seven-day average positivity rate is 1,691 per day, with 11.4% of all tests resulting in a positive diagnosis.
There were 678 new breakthrough cases reported on Tuesday, which occurs when someone who is fully vaccinated against the disease is diagnosed with it, either due to waning protection from the vaccine or reduced immunity to the disease. Doctors and health officials have confirmed it is not possible to contract COVID-19 from the COVID-19 vaccine.
Utah's first COVID-19 cases were reported in Utah in March 2020 — 20 months later, and Utah remains in the midst of an ongoing surge in cases that began with the arrival of the delta variant strain in June. Case numbers appear to be rising as the weather worsens, keeping more people indoors.
There are now 583 people hospitalized with COVID-19 throughout Utah, adding to the now 24,713 people in Utah who have been hospitalized with the disease. As of Tuesday, 3,313 people in Utah have died because of COVID-19, including another 13 on Tuesday.
The latest deaths include:
- A Davis County man older than 85 who was a long-term care facility resident when he died.
- A Cache County woman, 65-84, not hospitalized.
- A Utah County man, 25-44, hospitalized.
- A Salt Lake County woman, 65-84, not hospitalized.
- A San Juan County man, 65-84, not hospitalized.
- A Tooele County woman, 65-84, not hospitalized.
- A Washington County woman, 25-44, hospitalized.
- A Salt Lake County man, 45-64, hospitalized.
- A Washington County man, older than 85, hospitalized.
- A Utah County woman, older than 85, hospitalized.
- A Cache County man, older than 85, hospitalized.
- A Washington County man, 65-84, hospitalized.
- A Uintah County man, 45-64, hospitalized.