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Utah reported 173 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday — the sixth day in a row and eighth day in the past 11 that that figure has been below 200.
The number of new cases reported Thursday was a tiny fraction of the number reported during the omicron surge in January. There were 78 times more cases on Jan. 14, when the daily case count peaked at 13,521.
The average number of cases per day in the past week is 156.
The Utah Department of Health also reported five more deaths Thursday, one of which occurred before Feb. 17. After further testing, UDOH also subtracted two deaths — one reported on March 8, the other on March 16 — from the overall death toll, which now stands at 4,556 since the pandemic began.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 fell to 156 on Thursday, down 16 from Wednesday. There were 29 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units, five fewer than Wednesday.
According to UDOH, 72.7% of Utah’s ICU beds are filled, which falls below the 85% threshold that healthcare workers have said is needed to have enough rooms, equipment and staff available to treat new patients. COVID-19 patients make up 7.7% of the state’s ICU patients.
The Utah National Guard on Thursday also announced that it is ending its COVID-19 Joint Task Force mission, which began in March 2020.
Throughout the mission, more than 728 soldiers and airmen were activated and, over the past two years, provided 207,198 vaccinations, 460,387 coronavirus tests and 3,974 monoclonal infusions, according to the Utah National Guard.
They also closed 5,830 contract tracing cases, processed 67 million PPE items and worked a total of 142,000 hours. The mission was one of the longest domestic support missions in Utah National Guard history.
“It has been an honor to work alongside the emergency managers and local health departments to serve the citizens of Utah,” Brig. Gen. Darwin Craig, director of joint staff for the Utah National Guard, said in a statement.
A UDOH analysis continues to show that booster shots significantly decrease Utahns’ chances of dying of COVID-19. Over the past four weeks:
• An unvaccinated person who contracts the virus is five times more likely to die than a fully vaccinated person, and 20.3 times more likely than a boosted person.
• An unvaccinated person who contracts the virus is 2.1 times more likely to be hospitalized than a fully vaccinated person, and 5.2 times more likely than a boosted person.
• An unvaccinated person is 1.9 times as likely to contract the virus than a fully vaccinated person, and twice likely than a boosted person.
While state data shows 61.4% of Utahns were fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, just 27.3% of all Utahns have received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Find where to get vaccinated at coronavirus.utah.gov/vaccine-distribution. Find where to get tested at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-covid-19-testing-locations.
Breakdown of updated figures
Vaccine doses administered in the past day/total doses administered • 1,795 / 4,982,947.
Number of Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,993,892 — 61.4% of Utah’s total population. That is an increase of 526 in the past day.
Cases reported during the past day • 173.
Vaccination status • Health officials do not immediately have or release the vaccination status of individuals who test positive, who are hospitalized or who die. They do calculate the overall risk ratios of these outcomes depending on vaccination status, which is listed above.
Tests reported in the past day • A total of 9,337,250 people were tested.
Deaths reported in the past day • Five. One death occurred before Feb. 17.
There were two deaths in Salt Lake County — a man between the ages of 45-64, and a man 65-84.
The other deaths were a Davis County woman 85 or older; a Utah County woman 85 or older; and a Weber County man 65-84.
Hospitalizations reported in the day • 156. That is 16 fewer than reported on Wednesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 29 are in intensive care, down five from Wednesday.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate was 8.1% in the past day. That is higher than the seven-day average of 5.5%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Thursday’s rate was 3.4%, equal to the seven-day average.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Totals to date • 926,332 cases; 4,556 deaths; 33,767 hospitalizations; 9,337,250 tests administered.
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