SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s number of COVID-19 cases increased by 300 on Friday, with 10 more deaths and 18,716 vaccinations reported.
Nine of the deaths occurred before April 21 but were still being investigated by state medical examiners, according to the Utah Department of Health.
The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now at 284, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that time period calculated with the “people over people” method is now 6.4%. The positive test rate per day for that time period calculated with the “test over test” method is now 3.4%.
There are 136 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 54 in intensive care units, state data shows. About 76% of all ICU hospital beds in Utah are now occupied, including about 80% of ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 59% of non-ICU hospital beds are now occupied in the state.
A total of 2,482,804 vaccine doses have been administered in the state, up from 2,464,088 Thursday. A total of 1,433,417 Utahns have now received at least one vaccine dose, while 1,155,807 are fully vaccinated, according to state data. A total of 3,014,227 vaccine doses have been shipped to Utah so far, and Friday is the first day that number has been reported over 3 million.
About 44.7% of the total Utah population has now received at least a first vaccine dose, and 36.1% are fully vaccinated, according to the health department. Among Utahns age 12 and older, who are currently eligible to receive the vaccine, 55.3% have at least one dose and 44.6% are fully vaccinated.
The new numbers indicate a 0.07% increase in positive cases since Thursday. Of the 2,658,131 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 15.2% have tested positive for the disease. The number of total tests conducted since Utah’s pandemic began is now at 4,857,128, up 8,851 since Thursday. Of those, 4,321 were tests of people who hadn’t previously been tested for COVID-19.
The 10 deaths reported Friday were:
- A Salt Lake County woman who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
- A Salt Lake County woman who was over the age of 85 and was not hospitalized when she died
- Two Salt Lake County women over the age of 85 who were residents of long-term care facilities
- A Salt Lake County woman between the ages of 65 and 84 who was hospitalized when she died
- Two Salt Lake County men between the ages of 65 and 84 who were hospitalized when they died
- A Salt Lake County man over the age of 85 who was hospitalized when he died
- A Salt Lake County man over the age of 85 who was not hospitalized when he died
- A Utah County man between the ages of 65 and 84 who was hospitalized when he died
Friday’s totals give Utah 403,984 total confirmed cases, with 16,638 total hospitalizations and 2,289 total deaths from the disease.
Salt Lake County, Intermountain shifting away from mass testing, vaccination sites
Salt Lake County’s health department and Intermountain Healthcare announced Friday they will be transitioning away from some mass vaccination and testing sites soon.
Salt Lake County will be shutting down its mass testing site at the Maverik Center in West Valley City at 3 p.m. May 28, according to a news release.
Demand for testing has gone down drastically at the site, which is processing under 85 tests per day, the news release says. The site was processing up to 1,200 tests per day in November at the height of Utah’s winter COVID-19 surge.
“Demand for testing has declined in the last couple of months as vaccines became widely available,” Dr. Dagmar Vitek, the Salt Lake County Health Department’s medical director, said in a statement. “This operation has served its purpose and with other local testing opportunities widely available, it’s the right moment to transition public health’s resources to vaccination and other community needs. The teams working there have done an outstanding job,”
The health department will continue offering COVID-19 vaccinations in the main parking lot at the Maverik Center. Staff currently working at the Maverik Center testing site will be moved to vaccination operations and other public health efforts. The health department is continuing to offer mobile testing units as necessary, the news release says.
Intermountain Healthcare will also be moving away from mass vaccination operations in early to mid-June, the company said Friday.
Cassia Regional Hospital in Idaho will continue offering a mass vaccination site, but other Intermountain facilities will switch to offering vaccines through clinics, physician offices and pharmacies, the company said.
The change will allow people who haven’t been vaccinated yet to have conversations with their primary care providers or specialists whom they know and trust, Intermountain Healthcare Dr. Brandon Webb said during a news conference Friday. The vaccination process will be closer to those providers who can inform their patients the best, Webb added.
The shift will especially be important as more adolescents in the 12-15 age group seek to get vaccinated, Webb said. Most parents are more comfortable with having conversations about vaccinating their children with their primary care providers, he said.
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