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Utah teenager dies of COVID-19

The girl, between the ages of 15 and 17, is one of 12 more deaths reported as case counts continue to rise.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Health workers give tests for Covid-19, at the Utah Department of Health parking lot, on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021.

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A Salt Lake County girl between the ages of 15 and 17 has died of the coronavirus — one of 12 Utahns who were added Thursday to the state’s death toll from the disease.

The Utah Department of Health lists the girl’s age between 15 and 24; the Salt Lake County Health Department lists her age as between 12 and 17 — the overlap is 15 to 17. No further information about the girl was made public.

The number of new cases of COVID-19 continues to rise. There were 1,687 new cases reported on Thursday, according to UDOH — that’s two more than were reported on Wednesday, and the most in a single day since Jan. 27.

And the rolling seven-day average of new cases hit 1,317 — the highest that number has been since Feb. 2.

A quarter of the new cases — 413 — were among kids in grades K-12. There were 162 cases in children ages 5-10; 119 cases in children 11-13; and 132 cases in children 14-18.

Of the 12 Utahns whose deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the past day, nine of them were under the age of 65; three were under the age of 45; and one was the teenage girl.

In the past four weeks, unvaccinated Utahns were 4.8 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than vaccinated people, according to a UDOH analysis. The unvaccinated were also 5.3 times more likely to be hospitalized, and five times more likely to test positive for the coronavirus.

An additional 4,292 Utahns were fully vaccinated in the past day, bringing the total to 1,587,108 — 48.5% of the state’s total population.

Vaccine doses administered in past day/total doses administered • 8,876 / 3,272,733.

Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,587,108.

Cases reported in past day • 1,687.

Deaths reported in past day • 12.

There were four deaths in Salt Lake County: the girl between the ages of 15 and 17, a man 25-44, a woman 45-64, and a woman 65-84.

Utah County also reported four deaths: two men and a woman 45-64, and a woman 65-84.

A man 25-44 and a man 45-64 died in Weber County, along with a Tooele County man 65-84 and a Washington County man 45-64.

Tests reported in past day • 13,166 people were tested for the first time. A total of 19,608 people were tested.

Hospitalizations reported in the past day • 498. That’s nine more than on Wednesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 182 are in intensive care, one more than on Wednesday.

Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 12.8%. That’s lower than the seven-day average of 14.1%.

The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Thursday’s rate was 8.6%, lower than the seven-day average of 10.4%.

[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]

Totals to date • 467,794 cases; 2,652 deaths; 20,366 hospitalizations; 3,165,367 people tested.

According to the UDOH, Utah has seen 10,915 “breakthrough” cases of COVID-19 — people who contracted the virus two weeks or more after being fully vaccinated. That’s 0.64% of people who are fully vaccinated.

Of that number, 602 people required hospitalization — 0.038% of those fully vaccinated. And there have been 56 deaths — 0.0033% of those fully vaccinated.