Dr. Angela Dunn, Utah epidemiologist, removes her mask before talking about Utah’s COVID-19 numbers during briefing at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020.
The state health department’s report Monday of 2,244 new coronavirus cases the last 24 hours, a low number relative to recent days, did not keep Utah’s rolling seven-day average from breaking through to another record high 3,349 cases a day.
During a Monday press conference Gov. Gary Herbert said he is hopeful that the light at the end of the COVID-19 battle will be the availability of vaccines.
”The next two or three weeks I think we’ll see our first opportunity here in the state of Utah to inoculate people. And we’ll look forward to that opportunity.
“That will be kind of a crescendo so that when we get into the spring next year, 2021, around March or April we’ll see the vaccine being made available to all in the general population. There is reason to be thankful and grateful for where we are at and the direction we are moving in.”
Utah reported four new coronavirus deaths Monday and Utah’s overall COVID-19 death toll has reached 797.
The Bear River Health Department’s Monday report 146 positive new cases in the district, but due to missing county data it is still not able to provide a breakdown of the number of cases by county.
There have been 9,262 positive cases over the course of the pandemic in the Bear River District, 7,095 in Cache County, 1,994 in Box Elder County and 40 in Rich County.
Among the total positive cases in northern Utah 6,441 have since been termed “recovered.”
Current coronavirus hospitalizations include 545 patients Monday. A total of 7,602 patients have been hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide and 355 of them are from the state’s three northern Utah counties. State reports indicate over 1,400 COVID-19 patients have entered Utah hospitals the last two weeks.
Monday’s numbers indicate 1,352,407 people have been tested in Utah.
The rolling seven-day average for percent of positive laboratory tests is 23.6 percent, a number State Epidemiologist Angela Dunn said is stabilizing because of increased testing.
In Idaho there are 91,653 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state. There have been 849 COVID deaths in Idaho with 563 positive tests in Franklin County, 166 positives in Bear Lake County and 119 in Oneida County.