Editor’s note • The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to critical stories about the coronavirus. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.
Utah hospitals and ICUs are treating fewer COVID-19 patients than they were over the weekend and case counts seem to be trending downward, following a spike last month.
Monday’s case count is up slightly, compared to Sunday’s 660. But at 771, the number is significantly lower than the thousands of cases per day recorded since the end of December, according to the Utah Department of Health. On Friday and Saturday, case counts exceeded 1,000.
Positive tests have been trending downward since a peak of more than 13,000 cases in mid-January, as the virus’s omicron variant spread in Utah.
The department also reported 27 new COVID-19 deaths Tuesday, including three people who died prior to Jan. 15. There have been 4,326 deaths from COVID-19 in Utah since the pandemic began.
As of Tuesday, there were 117 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units throughout the state, which is down six since Monday. ICUs in the state’s larger “referral” hospitals were at 77.8% capacity, lower than the 85% threshold that hospital administrators have said is necessary to leave room for unpredictable staffing levels, new patients and availability of specialized equipment and personnel.
ICUs in those larger hospitals had surpassed 85% occupancy almost continuously since late August, but numbers dropped below that threshold Monday.
Statewide, 74.5% of all ICU beds were filled as of Tuesday. And COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped from 561 patients to 529, the health department reported.
According to state data, 60.6% of Utahns were fully vaccinated as of Monday. However, researchers have found that a booster is crucial to prevent serious illness — and just 26.2% of all Utahns have received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Find where to get vaccinated at coronavirus.utah.gov/vaccine-distribution. Find where to get tested at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-covid-19-testing-locations.
Breakdown of updated figures
Vaccine doses administered in the past day/total doses administered • 3,306 / 4,903,822.
Number of Utahns fully vaccinated • 1,970,163 — 60.6% of Utah’s total population. That is an increase of 897 since Friday.
Cases reported in the past day • 771.
Vaccination status • Health officials do not immediately have or release the vaccination status of individuals who test positive, who are hospitalized or who die. They do calculate the overall risk ratios of these outcomes depending on vaccination status, which is listed below.
Tests reported in the past day • A total of 4,050 people were tested.
Deaths reported Monday • 27. Three of the deaths reported Tuesday occurred before Jan. 15.
Five Utah County residents died: A man between the ages of 45-64; a man and woman ages 65-84; and two men age 85 or older.
Four Salt Lake County residents died: A man 65-84 and three men age 85 or older.
Three residents of Weber County died: Two men ages 65-84 and a woman 85 or older.
Two Box Elder County residents died: A man 65-84 and a woman 85 or older.
In Davis County, two residents died: A man 65-84 and a woman 85 or older.
Two women died in Uintah County, one 65-84 and one 85 or older. And two more women died in Washington County, both ages 65-84.
Six counties reported one death: A Beaver County man 45-64; a Carbon County woman 65-84; a Cache County man 65-84; an Emery County man 45-64; a Millard County man 45-64; and a Tooele County man 65-84.
Utahns currently hospitalized with COVID-19 • 529. That is 32 fewer than reported on Monday. Of those currently hospitalized, 117 are in intensive care — six fewer than on Friday.
Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate was 19% in the past day. That is lower than the seven-day average of 29.0%.
The state’s new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Monday’s rate was 6.8%, lower than the seven-day average of 17.1%.
[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 8.3 times as likely to die of COVID-19 as vaccinated people were, according to a Utah Department of Health analysis. The unvaccinated also were 4.3 times as likely to be hospitalized, and 2.4 times as likely to test positive for the coronavirus.
Totals to date • 914,799 cases; 4,326 deaths; 32,631 hospitalizations; 9,113,130 tests administered.
