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For the third day in a row, 13 Utahns have been added to the death toll from COVID-19 — a number that now stands at 3,411 people, according to the Utah Department of Health.
The health department on Thursday also reported 1,789 new coronavirus cases in the past day. The rolling seven-day average for positive tests stands at 1,633 per day.
Intensive care units in the state remain near capacity, and over capacity in the state’s largest hospitals. According to the health department, 96.7% of all ICU beds and 101.8% of ICU beds in larger medical centers are occupied. (Hospitals consider anything over 85% to be functionally full.) Of all ICU patients, 44.2% are being treated for COVID-19.
Usually, when ICUs are over 100% capacity, it means nursing staffs are being stretched thinner, caring for more patients than normally recommended.
Two of the people whose deaths were reported were between 25 and 44 years old; five of them were in the 45 to 64 age group.
The number of children getting vaccinated continues to climb — 47,811 children ages 5 to 11 have gotten a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine since they became eligible. That’s about 13.1% of kids in that age group in Utah, according to UDOH.
Vaccine doses administered in the past day/total doses administered • 17,676 / 3,991,946.
Cases reported in past day • 1,789.
Cases among school-age children • Kids in grades K-12 accounted for 441 of the new cases announced Thursday — 24.6% of the total. There were 225 cases reported in children aged 5-10; 108 cases in children 11-13; and 108 cases in children 14-18.
Tests reported in past day • 12,080 people were tested for the first time. A total of 25,238 people were tested.
Deaths reported in past day • 13.
Four Salt Lake County residents were among the deaths reported: A man and a woman, each 25-44; a man 45-64; and a man 65-84.
Three Utah County residents — a man 45-64, and a man and a woman, each 65-84 — also died, UDOH reported.
Two Davis County residents also died, the health department reported: A woman 45-64, and a man 65-84.
Also among the deaths reported: A Beaver County man 65-84, a Duchesne County woman 45-64, a Uintah County man 65-84, and a Weber County woman, 45-64.
Hospitalizations reported in the past day • 547. That is 10 fewer than reported on Wednesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 223 are in intensive care, three fewer than reported on Wednesday.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 14.8% over the past day. That is lower than the seven-day average of 16.6%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Wednesday’s rate was 7.1%, lower than the seven-day average of 10.8%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]
Risk ratios • In the past four weeks, unvaccinated Utahns were 16.5 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than vaccinated people, according to a Utah Department of Health analysis. The unvaccinated also were 9.8 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 4.3 times more likely to test positive for the coronavirus.
Totals to date • 581,165 cases; 3,411 deaths; 25,331 hospitalizations; 3,875,496 people tested.
