Photo by Avelino Calvar Martinez from Burst
Latest figures from the Utah Department of Health indicate over 5,000 “breakthrough” cases, Utahns who are fully vaccinated and then have contracted the virus.
Gov. Spencer Cox has said, repeatedly, vaccination is the best path through the pandemic, but this week some Utah doctors said masking is also needed to battle a virus that is spreading faster and stronger than ever.
Utah’s COVID count Friday is 898 new coronavirus cases which is roughly twice as many as were reported 30 days ago. It leaves the seven-day average for positive tests at 859 a day.
This latest report leaves the state with 438,479 positive cases in Utah over the 16 months of the pandemic. With today’s eight deaths there have been 2,494 Utahns who have lost their lives to the virus.
Since Thursday there were 36 new COVID cases in the Bear River Health Department and the district’s total case count grew to 23,388. There are now 22,722 in the district who the state considers to be “recovered”.
Over 73,000 people in northern Utah’s three northern counties are fully vaccinated, which accounts for 56.3 percent of all district residents. That includes 59 percent of Cache County residents, 50.4 percent in Box Elder County and 49.2 percent in Rich County. More than 156,000 vaccine doses have been administered in the district.
There are currently 375 COVID patients hospitalized in Utah, 20 fewer than Thursday and 164 are in intensive care units, four fewer than Thursday. Over the course of the pandemic 18,907 Utahns have been hospitalized with the virus. That includes 1,022 in the Bear River Health District.
More than 2.96 million Utahns have been tested for coronavirus and more than 5.38 million tests have been administered in the state since the start of the pandemic. There were 7,411 people tested since Thursday and 12,901 total tests were administered during that time.
Utah’s rolling seven-day average for percent positivity of “people over people” is 14.9 percent while the percent positivity of “tests over tests” is 10.6 percent.
The Friday Idaho update shows 2,214 COVID deaths in the state. The current total of confirmed COVID-19 cases is 203,412. Case counts in the three counties in southeast Idaho include 1,264 positive cases in Franklin County, 427 in Bear Lake County and 384 in Oneida County.