Over 12K Vaccines Administered In One Day In Utah; One More Death Reported

Editor’s note: The initial report issued by the Utah Department of Health reported more than 212,000 vaccines administered since Saturday. That  has since been corrected to more than 12,000.

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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – More than 12,000 vaccines have been administered in the last day, according to a report issued by the Utah Department of Health. Another 412 cases of the virus have been confirmed, and one more Utahn has died.

Officials reported an additional 412 new cases have been confirmed. Over 855,000 vaccines have been administered.

The number of people hospitalized for the virus was 191.

The deaths bring the total number of Utahns lost to COVID-19 to 1,976 – 41 more in the last week.

Vaccinations

At least one dose of the vaccine has been administered to 554,779 people in Utah, including health workers, educators, residents age 65 and older and high-risk individuals age 16 and older.

The state has administered 855,663 first and second vaccinations. Of those vaccinated, 309,882 people have been fully immunized with both doses.

According to numbers reported by the health department, 12,631 vaccines have been administered since numbers reported Saturday, and more than 139,000 in the last week.

The number of vaccines delivered to the state has crossed over the million mark, with 1,006,115.

Testing

Health officials reported a total of 2,248,121 Utah residents have been tested for the novel coronavirus – an increase 4,427 since Friday and 42,330 in the last week – just over 100 less than the week prior.

Officials reported 374,850 residents have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began – an increase of 412 cases in the last day. Of those tested since Saturday, 11.4 percent were positive. There has been an increase of 3,615 cases in the last week.

The rolling seven-day average for positive tests was 519 per day – down around 160 since last Sunday. The rolling seven-day average for percent of positive laboratory tests was 9.2 percent.

Including people who have been tested more than once, 3.9 million tests have  been administered in the state.

Hospitalizations

The health department reported 191 people were being treated for COVID-19 in Utah hospitals. Total hospitalizations since the pandemic began was 14,891 people.

Utah officials said 71.5 percent of the 529 ICU beds across the state were full. Of those, 73 were being used by patients confirmed to have COVID-19. An additional 21 patients in ICU beds were suspected of having COVID-19, pending additional testing.

The remaining ICU beds were used by patients with other critical medical conditions. Hospital officials have said there was staffing for around 85 percent of those beds.

Deaths

One person died of COVID-19 in the last day, according to the Utah Department of Health, identified as a Cache County man between the ages of 45 to 64. He had been hospitalized for treatment.

His death brought the total in the county to 38, and the total in the area covered by the Bear River Health Department to 84. The department also covers Box Elder and Rich counties. Rich County was one of three counties in the state that have not reported any deaths due COVID-19.

The other counties yet to report a COVID-19 death was Wayne County in the Central Utah Public Health Department and Daggett County in the area covered by the TriCounty Health Department.

There have been 1,976 total deaths of residents from the disease in the Beehive State since the pandemic began – an increase of 41 in the last week.

Health officials said the deaths reported reflected the numbers of people who died specifically because of the effects of the coronavirus disease.

“The Office of the Medical Examiner conducts thorough investigations of all potential COVID-related deaths. These investigations can take several weeks to complete,” officials said.

National/Worldwide Numbers

There have been nearly 29 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States – with around 460,000 new cases in the last week.

Nearly 524,500 Americans have died of the disease, according to numbers compiled by the Coronavirus Resource Center at John Hopkins University.

Across the globe there have been over 116.6 million cases and 2,590,159 deaths – around 70,000 in the last week, up from nearly 60,000 in the week before.

With just 4 percent of the worldwide population, the United States has accounted for 24.8 percent of the global cases and 20.2 percent of the deaths since the pandemic began.

With one percent of the US population, Utah has accounted for about 0.4 percent of the country’s deaths, meaning the state has fared better than the national average in mortality rates.

The first US case was confirmed on January 21, 2020. The number of new cases in the nation has skyrocketed in November, with a spike significantly higher than any other country.

During the 2019-2020 flu season, an estimates 38 million people caught the influenza virus, requiring 18 million doctor visits and causing 22,000 deaths, according for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Around 35,900 deaths have been attributed to the flu annually, going back to the 2010-2011 flu season. Only twice during that time has the number of deaths exceeded 50,000 – once in 2014-2015, when there were 51,000 deaths, and again in 2017-2018, when there were an estimates 61,000 deaths.

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Coronavirus Resources

Have you or a family member been affected by coronavirus issues in Utah? KSL wants to hear from you. Contact KSL by emailing social@ksl.com.

Click here to sign up for a vaccine and here to see how Utah’s vaccine rollout is progressing.

The latest COVID-19 stories from KSL can be found here.

How do I prevent it?

The CDC has some simple recommendations, most of which are the same for preventing other respiratory illnesses or the flu:

• Avoid close contact with people who may be sick
• Avoid touching your face
• Stay home when you are sick
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and then throw the tissue in the trash
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing. Always wash your hands with soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.
• If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

The CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.