One More Utahn Dies Of COVID-19; 279 New Cases Reported

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – One more Utahn has died of COVID-19, according to the latest report issued by the Utah Department of Health. There were 279 additional cases, with an additional 8,300 vaccines administered.

The number of people hospitalized for the virus was 137, down from the previous Sunday.

The total number of Utahns lost to the disease was 2,182, which was 22 more in the last week.

Testing

Health officials reported a total of 2,567,778 Utah residents have been tested for the novel coronavirus – an increase 4,129 since Saturday.

Officials reported 398,012 residents have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began – an increase of 279 cases in the last day. Of those tested since Saturday, 6.8 percent were positive. There has been an increase of 2,581 cases in the last week – 93 less than the week prior.

The rolling seven-day average for positive tests was 371 per day. The rolling seven-day average for percent of positive laboratory tests was 6.7 percent.

Including people who have been tested more than once, 4,662,527 million tests have been administered in the state.

Vaccinations

At least one dose of the vaccine has been administered to 1,309,080 people in Utah. Those eligible for the vaccine included anyone over the age of 16. Vaccine approval was expected soon for those ages 12 to 15.

The state has administered 2,174,205 first and second vaccinations. Of those vaccinated, 953,577 people have been fully immunized with both doses – over 83,000 in the last week.

According to numbers reported by the health department, 8,364 vaccines have been administered since numbers reported Saturday, and nearly 135,000 in the last week.

Health officials said 40.1 percent of all Utahns over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated, and 55 percent have had at least one vaccination. Including all Utahns of any age, 29.7 percent have been fully vaccinated.

Nearly 2.6 million vaccines have been delivered to the state.

Hospitalizations

The health department reported 137 people were being treated for COVID-19 in Utah hospitals. Total hospitalizations since the pandemic began was 16,220 people.

Utah officials said 67.3 percent of the 529 ICU beds across the state were full. Of those, 54 were being used by patients confirmed to have COVID-19. An additional seven patients in ICU beds were suspected of having COVID-19, pending additional testing.

The remaining ICU beds were used by patients with other critical medical conditions. Hospital officials have said there was staffing for around 85 percent of all ICU beds.

Deaths

The Utah Department of Health reported the death of one person in the last day. The Utah County man was between the ages of 45 to 64 and hospitalized when he died.

His death brought the total number in the county to 381.

There have been 2,204 total deaths of residents from the disease in the Beehive State since the pandemic began – an increase of 22 reported in the last week.

Identities of those who the state said died of COVID-19 have not been released.

National/Worldwide Numbers

There have been nearly 32.4 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States. Nearly 577,000 Americans have died of the disease, according to numbers compiled by the Coronavirus Resource Center at John Hopkins University.

More than 45,000 new cases have been reported in the last day in the U.S.

Across the globe there have been over 152.3 million cases and 3,195,085 2,930,127 deaths – nearly 265,000 in the last week, about 93,000 more than the previous week.

With just 4 percent of the worldwide population, the United States has accounted for 21.3 percent of the global cases and 18.1 percent of the deaths since the pandemic began.

With one percent of the US population, Utah has accounted for about 0.38 percent of the country’s deaths, meaning the state has fared better than the national average for mortality rates.

The first US case was confirmed on January 21, 2020. The number of new cases in the nation has skyrocketed in November, with a spike significantly higher than any other country.

During the 2019-2020 flu season, an estimates 38 million people caught the influenza virus, requiring 18 million doctor visits and causing 22,000 deaths, according for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Around 35,900 deaths have been attributed to the flu annually, going back to the 2010-2011 flu season. Only twice during that time has the number of deaths exceeded 50,000 – once in 2014-2015, when there were 51,000 deaths, and again in 2017-2018, when there were an estimates 61,000 deaths.

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Coronavirus Resources

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Click here to sign up for a vaccine and here to see how Utah’s vaccine rollout is progressing.

The latest COVID-19 stories from KSL can be found here.

How do I prevent it?

The CDC has some simple recommendations, most of which are the same for preventing other respiratory illnesses or the flu:

• Avoid close contact with people who may be sick
• Avoid touching your face
• Stay home when you are sick
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and then throw the tissue in the trash
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing. Always wash your hands with soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.
• If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

The CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies.)