The state health department reports that 22% of new cases were school-age children.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Nurse Sue Day administers a COVID-19 vaccine to Utah University student Dev Banerjee in Salt Lake City on Friday, August 20, 2021.
Editor’s Note: The Salt Lake Tribune provides free access to critical stories about the coronavirus. Sign up for our featured newsletter, is sent to your inbox every morning. To support journalism like this, please to give or become one subscriber.
More than 1,100 more Utahns tested positive for COVID-19 last day, and 22% of them were school-age children.
The Utah Department of Health reported 1,140 new cases, 246 of which were K-12 grade children. There were 97 cases in children aged 5–10 years; 50 cases in children aged 11-13; and 99 cases in children aged 14 to 18 years.
The average of seven days of positive tests stands at 1,108 per day, the highest figure since February 7.
Nine Utahn died more than the coronavirus and four of them were under 65 years old.
The case count has dropped 344 compared to a week ago (1,484 on August 17). It is more than double 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 (February 24); and a year ago, there were 402 new cases (August 24, 2020).
In the past four weeks, unvaccinated Utahns were five times more likely to die from COVID-19 than vaccinated people, according to a UDOH analysis. Unvaccinated people were also 6.6 times more likely to be hospitalized and 5.9 times more likely to test positive for coronavirus.
An additional 2,826 Utahns were fully vaccinated last day, accounting for a total of 1,551,747 – 47.4% of Utah’s total population.
According to the UDOH, Utah has seen 8,747 “advanced” cases of COVID-19, people who contracted the virus two weeks or more after full vaccination. That is, approximately 1 in 177 people are fully vaccinated.
Of this number, 499 have been hospitalized, 1 in 3,110 people completely vaccinated. And there have been 42 deaths, 1 in 36,946 people completely vaccinated.
Dose of vaccines administered the day before / total doses administered • 5,747 / 3,201,624.
Fully vaccinated Utahns • 1,551,747.
Cases reported last day • 1,140.
Deaths reported last day • We.
In Salt Lake County there were three deaths: two men and a woman, each aged 45 to 64.
Two counties reported two deaths each: two men aged 65 to 84 in Davis County and a man and a woman aged 65 to 84 in Utah County.
The other dead were a Uintah County man over the age of 85 and a Washington County woman aged 25 to 44.
Tests reported last day • 7,415 people were tested for the first time. A total of 12,554 people were tested.
Hospitalizations reported last day • 438. It’s seven more than Monday. Of those currently hospitalized, 177 are in intensive care, four more than on Monday.
Percentage of positive tests • According to the original state method, the rate is 15.4%. This is above the seven-day average of 14.8%.
The new state method counts all test results, including repeated tests by 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.]
Total so far • 455,513 cases; 2,593 dead; 19,829 hospitalizations; 3,076,176 people tested.
Correction: August 24, 6:33 pm • An earlier version of this story listed an incorrect number to describe the change in Tuesday’s case count compared to August 17th.