SALT LAKE CITY – More than a million Utahns have now received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, state officials announced Wednesday.
A total of 1,013,308 state residents have received the first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or the only dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the Utah Department of Health said in a press release.
“This is a milestone worth celebrating and we hope that number will continue to rise as more and more Utahns decide to get vaccinated,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a statement. “The speed with which we have been able to vaccinate Utahns is a testament to the work and dedication of the Utah public health system and our vaccination partners statewide,” he added.
The health department initially reported that approximately 66% of the vaccine-eligible population has now received at least one dose of the vaccine, but later clarified that only about 44% of the eligible population has at least one dose. .
The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose Wednesday by 612, with two more deaths and 34,814 more vaccines, according to the health department. The health department estimates that there are now 8,975 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah.
According to the health department, the average number of positive cases per day for seven days is 401. The percentage of positive tests per day for this period of time calculated using the “people on people” method is now 7.2%. . The positive test rate per day for this time period calculated with the “test over test” method is now 3.5%.
There are currently 140 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Utah, including 55 in intensive care, according to state data. Approximately 69% of all intensive care beds are now occupied in Utah, including about 72% of ICU beds in the state’s 16 reference hospitals, according to state data. Approximately 52% of non-ICU hospital beds are now occupied in the state, according to data from the health department.
A total of 1,561,167 doses of vaccine have been administered in the state, compared to 1,526,353 on Tuesday. In addition to the 1,013,308 Utahns who have received at least one dose of vaccine, 599,972 are considered fully vaccinated, according to the health department. To date, a total of 1,835,670 doses of vaccine have been sent to Utah.
The new figures indicate an increase of 0.2% in positive cases since Tuesday. Of the 2,424,457 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 16% have tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of tests performed has risen to 4,323,919, an increase of 18,522 since Tuesday, according to state data. Of these, 7,246 were tests from people who had not been tested for COVID-19.
The two deaths reported on Wednesday were:
- A Salt Lake County man who was between 45 and 64 years old and was hospitalized when he died
- A Washington County man who was between 65 and 84 years old and was not hospitalized when he died
Wednesday’s total gives Utah 388,426 confirmed cases, with 15,675 hospitalizations and 2,139 deaths from the disease. According to the health department, an estimated 377,312 cases of COVID-19 in Utah are recovering.
Utah’s “final” pandemic bill, formally known as Bill 294, requires that all state and local health orders related to COVID-19 end on the day Utah reaches the threshold in three key metrics. : the state’s 14-day case rate is less than 191 per 100,000 people, the average seven-day use of the COVID-19 intensive care unit is less than 15%, and 1,633 have been allocated .000 prime doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Utah.
As of Wednesday, Utah meets the benchmark in the first two metrics, but it still has a long way to go to reach the threshold of the third. The state’s 14-day case rate is now 178.2 and the average use of COUID-19 in the ICU for seven days is 9.4%.
Only 992,325 major doses have been assigned to Utah as of this week, according to health officials. It is expected to reach the 1,633,000 threshold in the second or third week of May, health officials say.
Utah’s main dose allocation is updated weekly and differs from the number of people who have received a dose of the vaccine, which is updated daily. Because the number of people who have received a dose is updated more frequently than the first dose allocation, progress is made in the main dose allocation statistics and often the two do not match.
Therefore, while the state reported Wednesday that 1,013,308 Utahns have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the state’s main dose allocation is 992,325 for this week. The first dose of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, as well as the single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, are considered major doses.
Also Wednesday, the Salt Lake County Council announced it would not extend the county’s mask mandate after April 10, with a few exceptions. However, Salt Lake City’s mask mandate will continue after that date, said Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
