Utah Reports 656 New COVID-19 Cases, 1 New Death, 123 Current Hospitalizations

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Department of Health on Friday announced 656 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death.

The rolling seven-day average for positive tests is 402 per day, and the rolling seven-day average for percent of positive laboratory tests is 9%. The state has tested 707,807 people so far, and 56,675 of those tests returned positive.

“Today’s caseload growth is the largest daily net increase we have reported since late July,” said state epidemiologist Angela Dunn. “We are looking closely at the numbers, and want to reiterate, as we have throughout this response, that one day of data does not necessarily indicate a trend.”

She added that many testing locations were closed Monday for Labor Day and Tuesday due to the severe windstorms.

“It’s possible people who would have been tested Monday and Tuesday waited until later in the week to be tested, resulting in an increase in the number of positive cases identified today,” she said.

Of the newly-reported cases, 40% came from Salt Lake County and 33% came from Utah County. Forty percent of the cases are among children and young adults ages 15 – 24.

There are currently 123 patients hospitalized with the virus, 48 of which are in intensive care units. Another 47 patients are currently hospitalized as COVID-19 persons under investigation. UDOH reports 54.3% of all non-ICU beds and 67% of all ICU beds in Utah hospitals are occupied.

A total of 431 Utahns have died from the virus. Officials on Friday reported the death of a Salt Lake County man older 85 who was not hospitalized at the time of death.

The state is considering 48,021 cases as recovered, meaning those patients received a positive diagnosis more than three weeks ago and they have not died.

“Even with today’s increase, our seven-day rolling average of 403 cases per day is still lower than last Friday’s seven-day rolling average of 409 cases per day,” Dunn said.