Omicron variant

The Utah Department of Health (UDOH) confirmed Friday the state’s first case of COVID-19 caused by the new Omicron variant. The case was discovered through ongoing genetic sequencing of positive COVID-19 samples at the Utah Public Health Laboratory.

The individual who tested positive is an older adult who lives within the Southwest Utah Public Health District and recently returned home to Utah after traveling to South Africa. The person is recovering at home and is experiencing mild symptoms.

Also Friday the UDOH COVID report indicates 1,873 new positive cases since Thursday. There have been 601,952 positive cases since the start of the outbreak.

Nineteen more Utahns died of COVID-19 since Thursday, including a Cache County woman between 65-84 years of age who was hospitalized at the time of death. There have been 3,564 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic.

UDOH said Friday 513 Utahns are hospitalized with coronavirus, six fewer than on Thursday and 199 are in intensive care, five fewer than were reported on Thursday. Since the start of the pandemic total COVID hospitalizations now number 26,108 .

Friday’s UDOH report indicates almost 92 percent of all ICU beds in Utah are occupied and of all ICU patients, 42 percent are being treated for COVID-19.

There were 12,152 Utahns tested since Thursday which means over 4 million people have been tested and 7.3 million total tests have been administered the last 21 months.

The number of Utahns fully vaccinated is over 1.8 million which is more than 56 percent of the state’s total population. More than 4.2 million doses have been administered and that includes 21,242 doses since Thursday.

There are now 93,562 in northern Utah who are totally vaccinated and 199,782 total doses have been administered in the Bear River Health District.

Utah’s new rolling seven-day average for positive tests is up to 1,407 a day. The new seven-day rolling average for percent positivity of “people over people” is 14.4 percent while the rolling seven-day average for percent positivity of “tests over tests” is at 9.6 percent.

Idaho’s most recent COVID update indicates 3,949 coronavirus deaths and the new total of confirmed COVID-19 cases is 308,155 statewide. New case counts in the three southeast Idaho counties include 1,763 total positive cases in Franklin County, 738 in Bear Lake County and 587 in Oneida County.



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