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.
After a slow Sunday, when only 4,144 Utahns were tested for COVID-19, the state reported its fewest number of new cases in 10 months — just 159. And there were no new deaths added to the state’s total.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and confirmed by the Utah Department of Health — Utah has recorded its first case of the P.1, or Brazilian, variant of the coronavirus. This variant is believed to be more easily transmissible, more severe and possibly more resistant to current vaccines. No information about the Utahn who contracted it has been released.
On Monday, Salt Lake County became the first in the state to start scheduling appointments for anyone age 16 and over — and it was doing a brisk business in setting up the inoculations.
At 9 a.m., the county health department opened 46,760 appointments for the month of April; by 5 p.m., it had booked 18,590 of those. So more than 28,000 remain, with April 13 the earliest date available.
(The Salt Lake County Health Department set the number of appointments based on the number of vaccines it expects to have, not by capacity at its sites.)
Last week, Gov. Spencer Cox announced that, beginning Wednesday, anyone 16 and older will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. They’re now available to anyone age 50 and older, and to some people ages 16 and older if they had preexisting conditions.
Other counties around the state are expected to begin scheduling their new round of appointments on Wednesday.
Vaccine doses administered in past day/total doses administered • 2,496 / 1,154,778.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 419,623.
Cases reported in past day • 159.
Deaths reported in past day • None.
Hospitalizations reported in past day • 147. That’s unchanged from Sunday. Of those currently hospitalized, 52 are in intensive care units — the same as on Sunday.
Tests reported in past day • 2,333 people were tested for the first time. A total of 4,144 people were tested.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 6.8%. That’s lower than the seven-day average of 8%.
Its new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Monday’s rate is now at 3.8%, slightly lower than the seven-day average of 4.1%.
Totals to date • 381,788 cases; 2,062 deaths; 15,293 hospitalizations; 2,334,049 people tested.
Follow @ScottDPierce