More Utahns Will Become Eligible For Vaccine Beginning March 1

SALT LAKE CITY – Health officials on Thursday reported 1,273 more Utahns have tested positive for COVID-19. To date, 351,273 residents have tested positive.

Utah has administered a total of 362,701 doses of the vaccine – surpassing the total number of positive cases.

“Basically, we are trying to be more viral than the virus,” Gov. Spencer Cox said during his weekly COVID-19 update.

Cox noted that all the vaccines – Pfizer, Moderna, and the upcoming Johnson & Johnson vaccine – are all effective. The state is projecting to go from receiving 82,000 total doses to 195,000 total doses, and Utah could receive 33,000 Johnson & Johnson doses in early March.

Also beginning in March, more Utahns will become eligible to receive the vaccine. However, residents should not contact their local health departments right now to make appointments, Cox said.

The Utah Department of Health will provide more details at a later time on how to get an appointment.

The eligibility age is being lowered to 65 on March 1.

Those with one of the following underlying medical conditions will also become eligible on March 1:

• Solid organ transplant recipients
• Those with certain cancers
• Immunocompromised state from blood, bone marrow, or organ transplant
• HIV
• Those using corticosteroids longterm
• Those who use other immune-weakening medicines longterm
• Severe kidney disease on dialysis or with Stage 4 or 5 kidney disease
• Uncontrolled diabetes
• Severe obesity
• Chronic liver disease including chronic hepatitis B or C
• Chronic heart disease (not hypertension)
• Severe chronic respiratory disease other than asthma
• Neurologic conditions that impair respiratory function, including Down’s Syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, quadriplegia or hemiplegia
• Stroke and dementia (Alzheimer’s, vascular, frontotemporal)
• Asplenia, including splenectomy or a spleen dysfunction, including sickle cell disease

Testing

UDOH reported a total of 2,054,230 Utahns have been tested so far, which is an increase of 9,419 people tested since yesterday.

Of those, a total of 351,273 have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. That’s an increase of 1,273 over Wednesday’s report.

The rolling 7-day average for positive tests is 1,264 per day, and the rolling 7-day average for percent of positive laboratory tests is 16.5%. Both of those numbers have decreased since last week.

Hospitalizations

Currently, 365 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, and 125 of those people are in intensive care units. Another 84 people are hospitalized with suspected cases of COVID-19.

Utah’s ICU beds are 75.6% full, and the ICU beds in the state’s referral centers are 78.3% full.

Referral Centers are the 16 hospitals in Utah with the capability to provide the best care for patients with COVID-19. Because most patients are transferred to these facilities, their utilization is the best reflection of the true hospital capacity in Utah when looking at ICU beds.

Deaths

Another 14 people have lost their lives to the virus. Three of those Utahns died prior to Jan. 14, health officials said. Utah’s pandemic death toll is now at 1,711.

The following individuals’ deaths were reported Thursday:

9 men

• between 65-84, Utah County resident, hospitalized at time of death
• between 45-64, Salt Lake County resident, hospitalized at time of death
• between 65-84, Davis County resident, hospitalized at time of death
• between 65-84, Salt Lake County resident, hospitalized at time of death
• between 65-84, Box Elder County resident, hospitalized at time of death
• between 45-64, Salt Lake County resident, hospitalized at time of death
• between 65-84, Washington County resident, hospitalized at time of death
• between 65-84, Salt Lake County resident, not hospitalized at time of death
• between 65-84, Box Elder County resident, long-term care facility resident

5 women

• between 65-84, Salt Lake County resident, long-term care facility resident
• between 45-64, Weber County resident, long-term care facility resident
• between 65-84, Weber County resident, long-term care facility resident
• older than 85, Salt Lake County resident, long-term care facility resident
• older than 85, Weber County resident, long-term care facility resident

For more information, visit coronavirus.utah.gov.