Additional 1.7K Utahns Test Positive As COVID-19 Vaccination Effort Expands
Dec 28, 2020, 12:57 PM | Updated: 1:27 pm
(KSL TV)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Department of Health on Monday reported 1,716 Utahns have tested positive for COVID-19 and five more have lost their lives because of the virus.
The report comes the same day as the vaccination was made available to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
So far, 17,543 vaccines have been administered.
Currently, there are 498 people hospitalized with COVID-19.
A total of 1,219 residents have died as a direct result of the virus.
Testing
UDOH reported a total of 1,698,105 Utahns have been tested for the coronavirus so far, which is an increase of 4,976 tests from Sunday’s report.
Of those, a total of 266,590 have tested positive for the virus. That’s an increase of 1,716 cases from yesterday’s numbers.
The rolling seven-day average for positive tests is 1,969 per day, and the rolling seven-day average for percent of positive laboratory tests is 24.4%.
Hospitalizations
There are 498 people who are hospitalized with COVID-19, and 168 of those are in intensive care units. Another 34 people are hospitalized with suspected cases of COVID-19.
Utah’s ICUs are 79.3% occupied, and the ICU beds in the state’s referral centers are 82.6% full.
The referral centers are Utah’s 16 hospitals that are best equipped to treat COVID-19 patients.
Until recently, both the referral center ICUs and the state’s overall ICUs were operating above the threshold for quality care, which is 85%. Now, those numbers have been at or below functional capacity for multiple days.
Deaths
Another five Utahns have lost their lives because of COVID-19. To date, 1,219 of the state’s residents have died as a direct result of the virus.
The following individuals’ deaths were reported Monday:
- Female, older than 85, Salt Lake County resident, long-term care facility resident
- Female, between 45-64, Utah County resident, hospitalized at time of death
- Female, between 45-64, Davis County resident, long-term care facility resident
- Male, between 65-84, Duchesne County resident, hospitalized at time of death
- Female, older than 85, Washington County resident, long-term care facility resident
Vaccinations
As of Monday, at least 17,543 Utahns had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
This article is being updated. For more information, visit coronavirus.utah.gov.