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On Thursday, the Utah Department of Health reported five more deaths as the result of COVID-19. One of those occurred before Dec. 1, and further testing confirmed it was the result of the coronavirus.
The state’s COVID-19 death toll since the pandemic began is now 3,754.
The Health Department also reported 1,289 new coronavirus cases in the past day. The rolling seven-day average of new cases stands at 1,005.
The number of children getting vaccinated continues to climb: 91,334 children ages 5-11 have gotten at least one dose since they became eligible. That’s 25% of kids that age in Utah, according to the health department. And 57,705 of those kids have been fully vaccinated — 15.8% of that age group.
Intensive care units in the state remain near capacity. UDOH reported Thursday that 93.3% of all ICU beds in Utah and 98.2% 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, 35.8% are being treated for COVID-19.
Vaccine doses administered in the past day/total doses administered • 18,437 / 4,483,794.
Number of Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,889,390 — 57.8% of Utah’s total population. That is an increase of 3,030 in the past day.
Vaccination status: Health officials do not immediately have or release the vaccination status of individuals who test positive, are hospitalized, or die. They do calculate the overall risk ratios of these outcomes depending on vaccination status, which you can see below.
Cases reported in the past day • 1,289.
Cases among school-age children • Kids in grades K-12 accounted for 152 of the new cases announced Wednesday — 11.8% of the total. There were 58 cases reported in children aged 5-10; 29 cases in children 11-13; and 65 cases in children 14-18.
Tests reported in the past day • 10,330 people were tested for the first time. A total of 19,655 people were tested.
Deaths reported in the past day • Five.
A Salt Lake County woman 85-plus died, along with a Weber County man 25-44, a Washington County woman 45-64, a Davis County woman 65-84, and a Utah County Man 65-84.
Hospitalizations reported in the past day • 458. That is one more than reported on Wednesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 174 are in intensive care — six fewer than reported on Wednesday.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 12.5% in the past day. That is higher than the seven-day average of 11.4%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Thursday’s rate was 6.6%, lower than the seven-day average of 7.8%.
[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 16.7 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than vaccinated people, according to a Utah Department of Health analysis. The unvaccinated also were 9.8 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 3.7 times more likely to test positive for the coronavirus.
Totals to date • 623,703 cases; 3,754 deaths; 27,185 hospitalizations; 4,174,214 people tested.
Because of the Christmas holiday, the Health Department will neither release a coronavirus update nor update the public online dashboard on Friday. The next update will be Monday.
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