On Friday, COVID-19 hospitalizations in Utah grew to record highs. The daily average of new positive tests continues to break previous records and Gov. Gary Herbert issued a strongly worded statement that the recent spike in cases is “unsustainable.”
“As Utahns, it is our duty to work together to turn things around. We must exercise all necessary precautions and follow all public health guidance,” said the Governor.
He said it is probable that four more counties will soon be designated as “high transmission” areas. Six counties, including Cache County, are already in that group.
High transmission areas have more strict public health requirements than moderate and low areas.
With 9,037 Utahns tested the last 24 hours 1,496 new positive cases were found. The rolling seven-day average for positive tests is 1,224 a day, a new record since the start of the pandemic.
Each day this week when new hospitalization numbers were issued it broke the previous all time record for the pandemic. But Friday, with 290 Utahns now hospitalized, the record was shattered.
Total hospitalizations since the beginning of the outbreak are now 4,559.
The state reported eight more deaths since Thursday, including a Box Elder County man older than 85. He is the sixth Box Elder County resident to die from COVID-19 (eight Cache County residents have died from the virus). It brings the total during the pandemic to 537 Utahns who have lost their lives to the coronavirus.
Numbers in the Bear River Health Department’s Friday report indicate 57 cases: 51 in Cache County and six in Box Elder County.
There have been 4,336 positive cases over the course of the pandemic in the Bear River District: 3,560 in Cache County, 756 in Box Elder County and 20 in Rich County.
Among the new positives in the district, 3,267 are considered “recovered”. There are now 10 from the district in hospitals, seven from Cache County and three from Box Elder County. The total number of positive cases detected since early-March in Utah has grown to 91,957 and among all those positive tests since the outbreak, 68,092 are considered recovered.
In the most recent report from Idaho there are 50,610 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state. There have been 517 COVID deaths in Idaho with 208 positive tests in Franklin County, 53 positives in Bear Lake County and 29 in Oneida County.