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Thirteen more Utahns died of COVID-19 in the past week as case counts and hospitalizations throughout the state declined, state health officials reported Thursday.
Utah’s latest COVID-19 metrics show more than 3,500 new coronavirus cases in the past week, with a 24.1% decrease in seven-day average case counts and a 9.2% decrease in test positivity rates.
About a month after Utah officially surpassed 1 million COVID-19 cases, the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic is now 1,023,669.
However, these results do not include results from home tests and officials have said they’re not the most reliably indicator of spread.
COVID-19 wastewater levels
Levels of coronavirus found in the state’s sewage can give a more accurate reading. This week, 67.6% of Utah wastewater sites reported high levels of the virus, up a few percentage points from the previous week.
While five sites — in Hyrum, Ogden, South Jordan, Orem and Hurricane — show increasing levels of COVID-19, 24 sites indicate levels are plateauing. Five sites show decreasing levels.
Still, COVID-19 levels are a concern. Elevated amounts of the virus were found at 23 of those sites, and 10 are considered “under watch,” meaning there’s potential they could soon be considered elevated.
No counties with ‘high’ transmission levels
None of Utah’s 29 counties have high COVID-19 community transmission levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last week, four counties met this threshold.
There were 202 coronavirus patients in Utah hospitals on Thursday, compared to 191 last Thursday.
The seven-day average of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 fell 1.4%, the seven-day average of COVID patients in intensive care fell 13.2% and the seven-day average of new coronavirus patients admitted to a hospital fell 5.8%.
Over the past week, 2.88% of emergency room visits in Utah were for COVID-19, down from 3.63% the previous week.
Breakdown of updated figures:
Vaccine doses administered in the past week/total doses administered • 24,651 / 5,354,367.
Number of Utahns fully vaccinated • 2,046,128 — 63% of Utah’s total population. Another 980,655 Utahns have received at least one booster shot — 30.2% of the population.
Cases reported in the past week • 3,539
Average cases per day reported in the past week • 508.
Deaths reported in the past week • 13.
Washington County reported the deaths of a man and four women, all between the ages of 65-84.
In Salt Lake County, two women and a man, also ages 65-84, died.
Box Elder, Davis, Utah, Wasatch and Weber County each reported one death. Two of them were woman 85 or older. The remaining three included a woman and two men, all ages 65-84.
Hospitalizations reported this week • As of Thursday, 202 Utahns were hospitalized with COVID-19, 11 more than the previous week. There were 25 in intensive care, one more than last week
Percentage of positive tests • Counting all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual, 20.34% of the tests conducted came back positive, compared to 22.4% at this point last week.
When repeated tests on the same individual are not counted, 26.2% of the tests administered yielded positive results, down from 29.41% the previous week.
Totals to date • 1,023,669 cases; 4,953 deaths; 37,684 hospitalizations.
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