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For the third day in a row, there are well over 500 new cases of COVID-19 in the state of Utah. That’s 572 on Tuesday, 546 on Wednesday, and 540 on Thursday for a total of 1,658.
The Utah Department of Health also reported four more deaths on Thursday. It’s the seventh day in a row with multiple coronavirus deaths — a total 38 deaths were reported in the past week (although 17 of those occurred in May or earlier and were only later confirmed to have been caused by COVID-19).
Also, 1.47 million Utahns have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, about 43% of the state’s total population. And 1.58 million have received at least once dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, more than 48% of the state’s population.
Vaccine doses administered in past day/total doses administered • 5,976 / 2,865,352.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,407,233.
Cases reported in past day • 540.
Deaths reported in past day • Four — two in Salt Lake County, a woman between the ages of 45-64 and a man 65-84; a Davis County man between the ages of 45-64; and a Tooele County woman 25-44.
Tests reported in past day • 4,140 people were tested for the first time. A total of 7,565 people were tested.
Hospitalizations reported in the past day • 257. That’s 10 more than on Wednesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 75 are in intensive care, one fewer than on Wednesday.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 13%. That’s higher than the seven-day average of 9.9%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Thursday’s rate was 7.1%, higher than the seven-day average of 6.6%
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Totals to date • 415,679 cases; 2,375 deaths; 17,526 hospitalizations; 2,799,179 people tested.
This story is developing and will be updated.