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SALT LAKE CITY – The average number of confirmed cases fell again slightly after the Utah Department of Health released its daily COVID-19 report on Saturday.
Nonetheless, earlier this week, health experts warned of a possible surge after the Super Bowl gatherings on Sunday.
The health department reported 1,211 new cases on Saturday, along with five other deaths from 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. Additionally, it has killed 1,733 people in Utah.
The seven-day rolling average number of cases per day is 1,183, with an average percentage of positive tests currently at 16.2%, down from 16.3% on Friday and 18% a week ago.
There are 335 people hospitalized, which is also a drop from the 349 who would have been hospitalized on Friday, and significantly fewer than the 430 hospitalized for 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 have hovered dangerously near or at full capacity throughout December and much of January, and are still around 80% full, according to health department statistics available online at coronavirus.utah.gov.
The state has tested 2,070,190 people for the novel coronavirus, which has a high rate of transmission statewide except for two counties where transmission is low – Piute and Daggett counties.
A statewide mask mandate remains in effect, in public and anywhere social distancing is not possible.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox announced the next step in the state’s vaccination plan on Thursday. He said eligibility would be open to Utahns 65 and over, as well as anyone with various health conditions, on March 1.
He said he hopes everyone will have the opportunity to get their COVID-19 vaccine by the summer.
So far, 404,085 people in Utah have received vaccines against the rampant disease, including 21,204 since Friday’s report from the Department of Health, which oversees vaccination efforts statewide.
In addition to wearing two masks or switching to an N95 or KN95 type mask, health officials have warned against meeting with anyone outside the house for the Super Bowl parties this week. -end. The most contagious variants of COVID-19 are circulating in Utah, making the situation a bit riskier for anyone who meets.
A third confirmed case of the SARS-CoV-2 variant in the UK was announced earlier this week in Utah, although officials say there have been more. The state’s health department is performing genetic sequencing to identify variants of the virus on only about 10% of positive test results so far.
New COVID-19 deaths reported on Saturday include:
- A 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 years old who resided in a long-term care facility.
- A Millard County woman over 85 who was not hospitalized.
- A Weber County man aged 65 to 84 who was hospitalized.
- A man from Uintah County between 65 and 84 who was hospitalized.
New cases of COVID-19 reported by the health district on Saturday:
- Salt Lake County, 417
- Utah County, 248
- Davis County, 172
- Southwestern Utah, 117
- Weber-Morgan, 79
- Bear River, 79
- Tooele County, 26
- Summit County, 25
- Wasatch County, 15
- Central Utah, 14
- TriCounty (Uinta basin), 14
- Southeastern Utah, 6
- San Juan County, 3
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