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SALT LAKE CITY – The share of positive COVID-19 tests increased slightly over the weekend in Utah, but the prevalence of the disease is lower than it has been for months.
The percentage of positive tests has been declining since January, but increased slightly on Sunday, the Utah Department of Health reported, with 6.3% of tests resulting in positive diagnoses on Sunday. The percentage reached 6.12% on Saturday.
The health department has announced another 701 cases of COVID-19, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the state to 366,735 since March last year. Nearly 2.2 million people have been tested a total of 3.7 million times, with testing being done after possible exposure to the virus and then again after periods of quarantine or isolation.
Another 9,123 people in Utah received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday. And, according to the health department, the state administered a total of 607,557 doses of the vaccine, including 205,388 people who have now received two doses.
There are 241 people currently being treated in state hospitals for complications caused by COVID-19. That’s one less hospitalized person than reported on Saturday and 14 less than Friday’s count, according to health department statistics.
Since the pandemic first hit Utah in March, 14,445 people – or about 5% of all COVID-19 cases in Utah – have been hospitalized for the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2. Of those, nearly 30% are over 85 and nearly 20% are people aged 65 to 84, according to the health department.
Only 2% of hospitalized cases, or around 800 people, required ventilator use during treatment for COVID-19.
Hospitalizations only recently fell below the 77% usage warning. It was 76% Sunday. The higher the number, the fewer beds in intensive care units are available, but this also leads to a shortage of qualified and patient care staff.
For months, Utah hospitals have been operating above these potentially dangerous thresholds where health officials have said tough decisions need to be made.
A drop in hospitalizations will likely be followed by a drop in the number of deaths from COVID-19, although it may take weeks to see the correlation.
Ten more deaths from COVID-19, seven of which occurred before February 1, were reported by the health department on Sunday. In Utah, 1,852 people have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Deaths reported on Sunday include:
- A Davis County woman aged 65 to 84 who was hospitalized after her death.
- A man from Davis County, aged 65 to 84, residing in a long-term care facility.
- An Iron County man, 65-84, who was not hospitalized.
- A Sevier County woman over 85 who was residing in a long-term care facility.
- A woman from Salt Lake County, aged 65 to 84, a resident of a long-term care facility.
- A man from Salt Lake County, aged 65 to 84, residing in a long-term care facility.
- A woman from Salt Lake County, aged 65 to 84, hospitalized.
- A man from Utah County, 65-84, a resident of a long-term care facility.
- A man from Utah County, over 85, not hospitalized.
- A man from Utah County, aged 65 to 84, hospitalized.
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