Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to critical stories about the coronavirus. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every weekday morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.
New cases of COVID-19 are on the rise again in Utah. Since hitting a nine-month low of 221 on Monday, that number more than doubled to 481 on Tuesday — and jumped to 699 on Wednesday.
The number of hospitalizations also rose, and five more deaths were reported by the Utah Department of Health. Four of the five deaths occurred before Feb. 17 and were only recently confirmed as coronavirus-related.
Vaccine doses administered in past day/total doses administered • 27,654 / 1,054,727.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 384,054.
Cases reported in past day • 699.
Deaths reported in past day • Five.
The deaths were: A woman age 85 or older in Salt Lake County; a man 45-64 in San Juan County; a woman 65-84 in Utah County; a man 65-84 in Washington County; and a woman 65-84 in Weber County.
Hospitalizations reported in past day • 180. That’s up nine from Tuesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 63 are in intensive care units — eight more than on Tuesday.
Tests reported in past day • 8,666 people were tested for the first time. A total of 19,892 people were tested.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 8.1%. That’s about the same as the seven-day average of 8.3%.
Its new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Wednesday’s rate is now at 3.5%, lower than the seven-day average of 4.1%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Totals to date • 379,780 cases; 2,037 deaths; 15,198 hospitalizations; 2,307,238 people tested.
Follow @ScottDPierce