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Utah’s COVID-19 death toll is nearly 3,600

More than 3,400 new cases were reported over the past three days.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Nurse Ashley Hafer fills syringes with the Moderna vaccine for people lined up on Thursday, March 18, 2021.

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The Utah Department of Health reported 32 more COVID-19 deaths on Monday, bringing the state’s death toll since the pandemic began to 3,595.

Twenty-one of the deaths occurred on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; 11 occurred before Nov. 1 and were only recently confirmed to have been caused by COVID-19 after further testing.

Sixteen of those who died were under the age of 65. Of those, three people were between the ages of 25-44 and 13 were between the ages of 45-64.

The Health Department reported 3,457 new coronavirus cases in the past three days — 912 on Friday, 1,166 on Saturday and 1,452 on Sunday for an average of just over 1,152 per day. The rolling seven-day average of new positive cases stands at 1,550.

The number of children getting vaccinated continues to climb — 74,363 children ages 5-11 have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine since they became eligible; that’s 20.4% of kids that age in Utah, according to the Health Department.

Intensive care units in the state remain near capacity. UDOH reported Monday that 95.4% of all ICU beds in Utah and 97.5% of ICU beds in larger medical centers in the state are occupied. (Hospitals consider any figure over 85% to be functionally full). Of all ICU patients, 42% are being treated for COVID-19.

Vaccine doses administered in the past three days/total doses administered • 41,000 / 4,237,422.

Number of Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,834,977 — 56.1% of Utah’s total population. That is an increase of 17,425 in the past three days.

Cases reported in the past three days • 3,457.

Cases among school-age children • Kids in grades K-12 accounted for 653 of the new cases announced Monday — 18.9% of the total. There were 361 cases reported in children aged 5-10; 132 cases in children 11-13; and 160 cases in children 14-18.

Tests reported in past three days • 23,888 people were tested for the first time. A total of 49,052 people were tested.

Deaths reported in past three days • 32.

Six of those who died were Salt Lake County residents — a man 25-44; a man and a woman 45-64; a man and a woman 65-84; and a man 85-plus.

Weber County also reported six deaths — a man and two women 45-64; a man 65-84; and two women 85-plus.

Five Davis County residents died — two women 45-64; a man and a woman 65-84; and a woman 85-plus. And there were four deaths in Utah County — a woman 25-44; a man 45-64; and a man and a woman 65-84.

Three Washington County residents also died — a woman 64-84, and a man and a woman 85-plus. And two Sanpete County residents died — a woman 45-64 and a woman 85-plus.

Four counties each reported a single death — a Box Elder County man 45-64; a Cache County man 25-44; an Iron County man 65-84; and a Sevier County man 45-64.

Two men 45-64 whose county of residence was unknown also died.

Hospitalizations reported in the past day • 502. That is 11 fewer than reported on Friday. Of those currently hospitalized, 204 are in intensive care, five more than reported on Friday. And 41% of patients in ICUs are being treated for COVID-19.

Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 14.5% in the past three days. That is lower than the seven-day average of 15.3%.

The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Monday’s rate was 7%, lower than the seven-day average of 10%.

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

Risk ratios • In the past four weeks, unvaccinated Utahns were 14 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than vaccinated people, according to a Utah Department of Health analysis. The unvaccinated also were nine times more likely to be hospitalized, and 3.6 times more likely to test positive for the coronavirus.

Totals to date • 605,409 cases; 3,595 deaths; 26,268 hospitalizations; 4,030,046 people tested.