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More than 1,100 more Utahns tested positive for COVID-19 in the past day, and 22% of them were school-age children.
The Utah Department of Health reported 1,140 new cases, 246 of them being kids in grades K-12. There were 97 cases in children ages 5-10; 50 cases in children 11-13; and 99 cases in children 14-18.
The rolling seven-day average for positive tests stands at 1,108 per day, the highest that number has been since Feb. 7.
Nine more Utahns died of the coronavirus, and four of them were under the age of 65.
The case count is down 344 compared to one week ago (1,484 on Aug. 17). It’s more than twice what it was a month ago (504 on July 24), and six times what it was three months ago (189 on May 24). Six months ago, there were 833 new cases (on Feb. 24); and a year ago, there were 402 new cases (Aug. 24, 2020).
In the past four weeks, unvaccinated Utahns were five times more likely to die of COVID-19 than vaccinated people, according to a UDOH analysis. The unvaccinated were also 6.6 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 5.9 times more likely to test positive for the coronavirus.
An additional 2,826 Utahns were fully vaccinated in the past day, bringing the total to 1,551,747 — 47.4% of Utah’s total population.
According to the UDOH, Utah has seen 8,747 “breakthrough” cases of COVID-19 — people who contracted the virus two weeks or more after being fully vaccinated. That’s about 1 in every 177 people who are fully vaccinated.
Of that number, 499 have been hospitalized, 1 in about every 3,110 fully vaccinated people. And there have been 42 deaths, 1 in about every 36,946 fully vaccinated people.
Vaccine doses administered in past day/total doses administered • 5,747 / 3,201,624.
Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,551,747.
Cases reported in past day • 1,140.
Deaths reported in past day • Nine.
There were three deaths in Salt Lake County: two men and a woman, each age 45 to 64.
Two counties each reported two deaths: two men 65-84 in Davis County, and a man and a woman 65-84 in Utah County.
The other deaths were a Uintah County man 85-plus, and a Washington County woman 25-44.
Tests reported in past day • 7,415 people were tested for the first time. A total of 12,554 people were tested.
Hospitalizations reported in the past day • 438. That’s seven more than on Monday. Of those currently hospitalized, 177 are in intensive care, four more than on Monday.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 15.4%. That’s higher than the seven-day average of 14.8%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Tuesday’s rate was 9.1%, lower than the seven-day average of 10.5%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Totals to date • 455,513 cases; 2,593 deaths; 19,829 hospitalizations; 3,076,176 people tested.
Correction: Aug. 24, 6:33 p.m. • An earlier version of this story listed an incorrect number to describe the change in Tuesday’s case count compared to Aug. 17.
