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Utah on Wednesday reported 15 new COVID-19 deaths, while hundreds remained hospitalized. The deaths included a Weber County man younger than 25.
New cases also jumped sharply with 2,062 diagnoses, up from Tuesday’s 1,341 new cases. But that is still far below January’s peak of more than 13,000 new cases in a single day.
The state has averaged 2,173 new cases a day for the past week — likely an undercount, now that health officials have discontinued rapid testing at state-sponsored sites after discovering the test they were using was producing false negative results.
Hospitalizations remained high Wednesday. There were 677 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Utah, down just four from Tuesday 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.
As of Wednesday, there were 157 COVID patients in intensive care units throughout the state. ICUs in the state’s larger “referral” hospitals were at 84.4 % capacity, just below 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, 81.2% of all ICU beds were filled as of Wednesday.
According to state data, 60.4% of Utahns were fully vaccinated as of Wednesday. However, researchers have found that a booster is crucial to prevent serious illness — and just 25.8% 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 • 8,894 / 4,877,836.
Number of Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,962,646 — 60.4% of Utah’s total population. That is an increase of 2,449 in the past day.
Cases reported in the past day • 2,062.
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 14,940 people were tested.
Deaths reported in the past day • 15.
Weber County reported five deaths: a man between the ages of 18-24, a man 45-64, and two women and a man ages 65-84.
Salt Lake County also reported five deaths: a man and a woman, ages 45-64; two men ages 65-84; and a man older than 84.
Two Utah County residents died: a man age 65-84 and a woman older than 84.
A Duchesne County woman age 25-44 also died, as did a Davis County man age 45-64 and a Cache County woman age 65-84.
Utahns currently hospitalized with COVID-19 • 677. That is four fewer than reported on Tuesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 157 are in intensive care — down eight from Tuesday.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate was 35.6% for the past day. That is higher than the seven-day average of 34.4%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Tuesday’s rate was 13.8%, lower than the seven-day average of 20.2%.
[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 8.2 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 • 907,174 cases; 4,237 deaths; 32,211 hospitalizations; 9,043,811 tests administered.
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