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Utah reported 1,935 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, resuming a decline in cases following January’s surge from the highly contagious omicron variant of the virus.
But testing has dropped significantly this week, as health officials have discontinued rapid testing at state-sponsored sites after discovering the test they were using was producing false negative results. Utah has been averaged about 14,000 tests per day since Monday, compared to an average 21,000 tests per day last week.
The Utah Department of Health reported an average 1,956 new cases a day during the past week, down slightly from Wednesday and well below January’s peak weekly average of about 11,000 daily cases.
Hospitalizations declined Thursday, but remained higher than at any time during the pandemic before January’s spike. There were 650 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Utah, down 27 from Wednesday but higher than the record before January — 606, in December 2020. State officials last month announced that a data error had caused inaccuracies in hospital counts for months, significantly undercounting them in January.
Medical examiners confirmed 13 new deaths in Utah resulted from COVID-19 infections, including one from before Jan. 10. There have been 4,250 deaths from COVID-19 in Utah since the pandemic began.
As of Thursday, there were 157 COVID patients in intensive care units throughout the state, same as Wednesday. ICUs in the state’s larger “referral” hospitals were at 88% capacity, once again above the 85% threshold that hospital administrators have said is necessary to leave room for unpredictable staffing levels, new patients and availability of specialized equipment and personnel. ICUs in those larger hospitals have surpassed 85% occupancy almost continuously since late August.
Statewide, 84.8% of all ICU beds were filled as of Wednesday.
According to state data, 60.4% of Utahns were fully vaccinated as of Thursday. However, researchers have found that a booster is crucial to prevent serious illness — and just 25.9% of all Utahns have received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Find where to get vaccinated at coronavirus.utah.gov/vaccine-distribution. Find where to get tested at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-covid-19-testing-locations.
Breakdown of updated figures
Vaccine doses administered in the past day/total doses administered • 6,017 / 4,883,853.
Number of Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,964,481 — 60.4% of Utah’s total population. That is an increase of 1,835 in the past day.
Cases reported in the past day • 1,935.
Vaccination status • Health officials do not immediately have to release the vaccination status of individuals who test positive, who are hospitalized or who die. They do calculate the overall risk ratios of these outcomes depending on vaccination status, which is listed below.
Tests reported in the past day • A total of 15,624 people were tested.
Deaths reported in the past day • 13.
Utah County reported seven deaths: a man age 45-64, two men and a woman ages 65-84, and three men older than 84.
Davis County reported the deaths of a man and a woman ages 65-84.
Two Salt Lake County men ages 65-84 died, as did women from Sevier and Garfield counties, both of them ages 65-84.
Utahns currently hospitalized with COVID-19 • 650. That is 27 fewer than reported on Wedensday. Of those currently hospitalized, 157 are in intensive care — same as Wednesday.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate was 30.8% for the past day. That is lower than the seven-day average of 33.4%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Thursday’s rate was 12.4%, lower than the seven-day average of 19.5%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Risk ratios • In the past four weeks, unvaccinated Utahns were 8.6 times as likely to die of COVID-19 as vaccinated people were, according to a Utah Department of Health analysis. The unvaccinated also were 4.6 times as likely to be hospitalized, and 2.4 times as likely to test positive for the coronavirus.
Totals to date • 909,109 cases; 4,250 deaths; 32,294 hospitalizations; 9,059,435 tests administered.
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