2 more Utah COVID-19 deaths as vaccinations top 1 million residents

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah counted two more lives lost Wednesday from COVID-19, bringing the state total to 2,139 killed. The state has now vaccinated more than 1 million people with at least one dose of one of the various coronavirus vaccines available.

One of the men killed was from Salt Lake County and was between 45 and 64 while the other was a man in Washington County, aged 64 to 84 and not hospitalized at the time of his death. A full report from the Utah Department of Health is further down in this story.

The state has administered at least one dose of the available vaccines to 1,013,308 state residents, or approximately 66% of the state’s eligible population.

“This is a milestone worth celebrating and we hope this number will continue to rise as more and more Utahns choose to become vaccinated,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “The speed in which we’ve been able to vaccinate Utahns is a testament to the hard work and dedication by Utah’s public health system and our statewide vaccination partners.”

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall extended the mask order Utah’s capital city, which has different data from the state and from Salt Lake County, she said. She said the Utah Legislature arbitrarily ended the state’s mask mandate and didn’t account for science and data, especially in Salt Lake that has been hardest hit and where some minorities and those facing economic challenges have a much lower vaccination rate.

“As a city we will always be guided by public health data,” Mendenhall said. “Today we are stepping up again and making another clear choice.”

Salt Lake County however will end its mask mandate, along with the state, on Saturday.

Salt Lake County Health Director Gary Edwards recommended that the county not extend the mask mandate pursuant to the passage of H.B.294, which ends the statewide mandate on April 10.

Salt Lake City business leaders and health experts were on hand in support of Mendenhall’s order. Matt Caputo of Caputo’s deli said businesses don’t have time or the ability to enforce mask wearing inside without government law backing them. He said lawmakers who ended the mandate should try working in a store and explaining that masks are required to sometimes angry and sometimes large customs who believe masks are taking away their freedom.

“This really matters for all our businesses, They do not have time to enforce (masks) at point of sale,” one business spokesman said at Wednesday’s press briefing.

Meanwhile a University of Utah doctor shared some alarming information about what appears to await one-third of COVID-19 survivors. Many who are technically considered “recovered” suffer from neurological or psychiatric disorders.

Utah is getting $30.6 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help get more shots in arms in the populations hardest hit by COVID-19.

Globally, 12,019 died from COVID-19 Tuesday. Of those 906 were from the United States and four from Utah.

Brazil, now leads the world in daily deaths, suffering 4,211 Tuesday, far more than second-place U.S. and third place India’s 631.

Overall, about 2% of U.S. residents who were confirmed to have the virus died from it in cases that are closed. So far the U.S. has counted 570,545 deaths at press time, according to worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/.

UDOH REPORTED TUESDAY

Positives:

• We will report 388,426 positive cases today. This is an increase of 612 new cases since yesterday.

Vaccines:

• We will report 1,526,353 total vaccines administered which is 28,314 more than yesterday.

Lab Tests:

• We will report 2,424,457 people tested. This is an increase of 7,246 people tested since yesterday.
• We will report 4,323,919 total tests. This is an increase of 18,522 tests since yesterday.

Trends:

• The rolling 7-day average for positive tests is 401 per day.
• The rolling 7-day average for percent positivity of “people over people” is 7.2%. The rolling 7-day average for percent positivity of “tests over tests” is 3.5%.

Hospitalizations:

• There are 140 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19. Total hospitalizations from the beginning of the outbreak are 15,675.

Deaths:

We will report 2,139 total deaths which is 2 more deaths since yesterday.

• Male, between 65-84, Washington County resident, not hospitalized at time of death
• Male, between 45-64, Salt Lake County resident, hospitalized at time of death

UTAH CUMULATIVE COVID-19 CASES BY WEEK — WEEKLY INCREASE

• Sun., March 15: 28 — 28
• Sun., March 22: 181 — +153
• Sun., March 29: 719 — +538
• Sun., April 5: 1,605 — +886
• Sun., April 12: 2,303 — +698
• Sun., April 19: 3,069 — +766
• Sun., April 26: 3,948 — +879
• Sun., May 3: 5,175 — +1,227
• Sun., May 10: 6,251 — +1,076
• Sun., May 17: 7,238 — +987
• Sun., May 24: 8,392 — +1,154
• Sun., May 31: 9,797 — +1,405
• Sun., June 7: 12,066 — +2, 269
• Sun., June 14: 14,313 — +2,247
• Sun., June 21: 17,462 — +3,149
• Sun., June 28: 21,100 — +3,638
• Sun., July 5: 24,952 — +3,852
• Sun., July 12: 29,484 — +4,532
• Sun., July 19: 34,117 — + 4,633
• Sun., July 26: 37,973 — + 3,856
• Sun., Aug. 2: 41, 175 — + 3,202
• Sun., Aug. 9: 44,127 — + 2,952
• Sun., Aug. 16: 46,652 — + 2,528
• Sun., Aug. 23: 49,115 — + 2,463
• Sun., Aug. 30: 51,854 — + 2,739
• Sun., Sept. 6: 54,660 — +2,806
• Sun., Sept. 13: 57,875 — +3,215
• Sun., Sept. 20: 63,772 — +5,897
• Sun., Sept. 27: 70,615 — +6,843
• Sun., Oct. 4: 77,618 — +7,003
• Sun., Oct. 11: 85,844 — +8,266
• Sun., Oct. 18: 94,394 — +8,550
• Sun. Oct 25: 104,882 — + 10,488
• Sun. Nov. 1: 116,510 — +11,628
• Sun., Nov. 8: 132,621 — +16,111
• Sun., Nov. 15: 153,808 — +21,187
• Sun., Nov. 22: 177,176 — +23,368
• Sun., Nov. 29: 193,809 — +16,633
• Sun., Dec. 6: 215,407 — +21,598
• Sun., Dec. 13: 233,904 — +18,497
• Sun., Dec. 20: 250,964 — +17,060
• Sun., Dec. 27: 264,874 — +13,910
• Sun., Jan. 3, 2021: 283,473 — + 18,599
• Sun., Jan. 10, 2021: 305,999 — + 22,526
• Sun., Jan. 17, 2021: 323,837 — + 17,838
• Sun., Jan. 24, 2021: 336,405 — + 12,568
• Sun., Jan. 31, 2021: 346,624 — + 10,219
• Sun., Feb. 7, 2021: 354,608 — + 7,984
• Sun., Feb. 14, 2021: 361,294 — +6,686
• Sun., Feb. 21, 2021: 366,735 — +5,441
• Sun., Feb. 28, 2021: 371,235 — +4,500
• Sun. March 7, 2021: 374,850 — +3,615
• Sun. March 14, 2021: 378,379 — +3,529
• Sun., March 21, 2021: 381,629 — +3,250
• Sun., March 28, 2021: 384,562 — +2,933
• Sun., April 4, 2021: 387,341 — +2,779