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.
More than 3,300 Utahns tested positive for COVID-19 in the past three days — and more than 1 in 5 of them were school-age children.
There were 1,604 cases reported on Friday, 1,129 on Saturday, and 601 on Sunday, for a total of 3,329 and a daily average of just under 1,110, the Utah Department of Health announced Monday. (UDOH no longer issues updates on Saturdays and Sundays.)
Friday’s total was the most new cases in a single day since Jan. 27.
The number of tests — and the number of new cases — generally decreases on the weekends, particularly on Sundays.
Kids in grades K-12 accounted for 715 of those cases. There were 298 cases in children ages 5-10; 205 cases in children 11-13; and 212 cases in children 14-18.
The rolling seven-day average for positive tests stands at 1,263 per day — the highest that number has been since Feb. 2.
Five more Utahns died of the coronavirus in the past three days. Three of them were under the age of 65, and one was under the age of 45.
In the past four weeks, unvaccinated Utahns were 4.9 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than vaccinated people, according to a UDOH analysis. The unvaccinated were also 6.2 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 5.1 times more likely to test positive for the coronavirus.
An additional 10,995 Utahns were fully vaccinated in the past three days, bringing the total to 1,575,506 — 48.1% of Utah’s total population.
Vaccine doses administered in past three days/total doses administered • 20,683 / 3,249,729.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,575,506.
Cases reported in past three days • 3,329.
Deaths reported in past three days • Five.
There were two deaths in Salt Lake County: a man 45-64 and a man 65-84. And Washington County also reported two deaths: a woman 45-64 and a man 85-plus.
The other death was a Box Elder County woman 25-44.
Tests reported in past three days • 23,026 people were tested for the first time. A total of 36,480 people were tested.
Hospitalizations reported in the past three days • 465. That’s two more than on Friday. Of those currently hospitalized, 178 are in intensive care, seven fewer than on Friday.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 14.5%. That’s lower than the seven-day average of 15.1%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Monday’s rate was 9.1%, lower than the seven-day average of 10.8%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Totals to date • 463,204 cases; 2,628 deaths; 20,131 hospitalizations; 3,129,977 people tested.
According to the UDOH, Utah has seen 10,061 “breakthrough” cases of COVID-19 — people who contracted the virus two weeks or more after being fully vaccinated. That’s 0.6% of people who are fully vaccinated.
Only 552 of those people required hospitalization — 0.045% of those fully vaccinated. And there have been 50 deaths — 0.003% of those fully vaccinated.
Follow @ScottDPierce