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 morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.
Utah experienced another post-holiday bump in COVID-19 cases this week as they rose, on average, by almost two per day over the same day last week. On Sunday, the Utah Department of Health reported 223 cases, which is 47 more than May 30, but no deaths.
This past week’s numbers are still lower than what the state saw last year in the week following Memorial Day when the pandemic was just heating up, however. In 2020, positive cases rose by an average of 48.7 cases per day compared to the same day the previous week. That included a jump of 160 cases — from 183 to 343 — from the Friday before the holiday to the one after.
Symptoms of the coronavirus typically appear within two to 14 days after exposure.
Grand County is one of the few areas in the state where cases are rapidly increasing. Home to Moab and a popular tourist destination, it moved into the UDOH’s “high” transmission category earlier this week. A little more than 11% of the people who have been tested have been found to have COVID-19.
Salt Lake, Utah, Davis and Sevier counties, meanwhile, all were reclassified from areas of “moderate” transmission risk to “low.”
In addition, more and more Utahns are receiving a dose of the vaccine. This week, more than 55,000 people received a dose, or almost 8,000 per day. The percentage of the adult population that is vaccinated in the state is 53.2%, slightly higher than the national average.
Vaccine doses administered in past day/total doses administered • 10,983 / 2,646,455.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,252,204.
Cases reported in past day • 223.
Deaths reported in past day • Zero.
Tests reported in past day • 2,672 people were tested for the first time. A total of 4,086 people were tested.
Hospitalizations reported in past day • 129. That’s 11 fewer than on Saturday. Of those currently hospitalized, 51 are in intensive care units, three fewer than on Saturday.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 6.9%. That’s higher than the seven-day average of 5.7%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Sunday’s rate is 4.3%, higher than the seven-day average of 3.7%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Totals to date • 406,027 cases; 2,301 deaths; 16,805 hospitalizations; 2,689,687 people tested.
