Utah’s latest COVID-19 figures show intensive care units have 101.3% capacity



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State health officials are reporting 1,585 new cases on Sunday, eight more deaths.

(Rick Bowmer | The Associated Press) James Lennox, IT support specialist at the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind, receives the COVID-19 vaccine at the Davis County Legacy Center on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, in Farmington, Utah. Utah has started vaccinating teachers and school staff statewide. They aim to have all teachers and school staff vaccinated by the end of February.

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Among Utah hospitals specializing in COVID-19 – places like the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City and Intermountain Medical Center in Murray – there are normally a total of 453 hospital beds. intensive care unit available to patients.

Now all 453 intensive care beds at these referral centers are full – and more. On Sunday, the Utah Department of Health reported that 458 intensive care beds were occupied in the state, which means places specializing in treating the coronavirus have a capacity of 101.3%.

The percentage of all intensive care beds statewide is also at critical levels, standing at 97.4%, or 515 of 529 available as of Sunday’s data release.

On Saturday, Utah broke the record for the number of COVID-19 patients currently in ICUs with 231. That number fell Sunday to 226. For reference, the seven-day period ending Sunday began on January 11 with 188 COVID-19 patients.

As of Sunday, the state has administered 157,170 overall doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. This number includes the 142,368 Utahns who received their first doses and the 14,802 Utahns who received both doses.

The fact that the state reported 1,585 cases on Sunday could be interpreted as good news. In the past seven days, 17,838 positive cases have been reported. Sunday’s 1,585 cases are the second rarest reported in those seven days, including 5,188 on Wednesday, and two other days that eclipsed 2,500.

In addition, 1,585 is the second lowest positive figure since the end of December.

The eight deaths reported on Sunday are part of 101 in the past seven days. The death toll in Utah stands at 1,493 since the start of the pandemic. Just as the number of cases is currently on the decline, eight deaths reported in one day could be considered progress after the week saw a high of 27 deaths on Wednesday.

Utah’s seven-day moving average for positive tests is 2,209 per day, bringing the seven-day average of the percentage of positive lab tests to 22.6%. The latter figure places Utah in the top five of the 50 states as of Sunday.

The 7,199 tests reported on Sunday bring the total administered to 1,902,260.

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