562 more COVID-19 cases, 5 deaths, nearly 28K vaccinations reported Wednesday in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s number of COVID-19 cases increased by 562 on Wednesday, with five more deaths and 27,965 vaccinations reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.

Four of the deaths occurred last month but were still being investigated by state medical examiners, the health department said.

The health department estimates there are now 10,376 active COVID-19 cases in Utah. The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now at 424, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that time period reported with the “people over people” method is now 7.7%. The positive test rate per day seven-day average calculated with the “test over test” method is now 3.9%.

There are 127 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 51 in intensive care, state data shows. About 70% of Utah’s intensive care unit hospital beds are now occupied, including about 73% of ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 52% of non-ICU hospital beds are now occupied, state data shows.

The new numbers indicate a 0.1% increase in positive cases since Tuesday. Of the 2,348,003 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 16.3% have tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of tests conducted since the pandemic began is now at 4,142,052, up 17,187 since Tuesday. Of those, 7,932 were tests of people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19.

The five deaths reported Wednesday were:

• A Cache County woman who was over the age of 85 and was not hospitalized when she died
• A Carbon County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died
• A Salt Lake County man who was over the age of 85 and was not hospitalized when he died
• A Sanpete County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was not hospitalized when he died
• A Sanpete County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was a resident of a long-term care facility

Wednesday’s totals give Utah 382,733 total confirmed cases, with 15,358 total hospitalizations and 2,082 total deaths from the disease. The health department estimates 370,272 Utah COVID-19 cases are now recovered.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson are scheduled to provide a COVID-19 pandemic update at a news conference at 11 a.m. Thursday.