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Four more Utahns have died from the coronavirus, state health officials reported Saturday, bringing the state’s death toll from the pandemic to 97.
The state also reported 203 new confirmed cases of the virus on Saturday for a total of 8,260 cases since the pandemic began.
That’s the highest daily increase in cases since the pandemic came to Utah in mid-March. And it comes as much of the state has shifted from a moderate “orange” risk level to a lower “yellow” status that’s meant to indicate a lower risk for contracting the coronavirus and has allowed businesses to resume operations while taking industry-specific precautions.
Salt Lake City, West Valley and Grand County remain in the “orange” status for now, as are Bluff and Mexican Hat in San Juan County.
More than half of the state’s 8,200 coronavirus cases, or 4,898 of them, are considered “recovered," meaning the person who contracted the illness has survived for three weeks following a diagnosis for COVID-19.
Three of the deaths announced Saturday were women and Salt Lake County residents. One of them was older than 85 and a resident at a long-term care facility. The other two were between the ages of 65 and 84 and one of them was also resident of a long-term care facility, according to details provided by the state health department.
The fourth death was a Utah County man between the ages of 65-84 years old.
The health department reported new test results for 3,945 people. In total, 190,779 tests have been conducted since the beginning of the pandemic, with an overall positive rate of 4.3%.
There are currently 108 people hospitalized with COVID-19, an increase of 16 since the day before. As of Saturday, there have been 676 hospitalizations in Utah since the pandemic began.
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