Utah has had 5th most COVID cases in nation last two weeks – Cache Valley Daily

FILE PHOTO: doctor hand in gloves holding coronavirus vaccine. Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya

Utah’s 154 percent increase in Covid cases the last two weeks is the fifth largest growth in the nation since June 9 and the state’s other metrics are up as well.

To gauge the severity of coronavirus outbreaks, state health officials track hospitalizations and emergency room visits and both numbers increased the last seven days. Almost five percent of Utah’s emergency room visits the last week involved COVID-19 patients; it was barely above four percent the previous week.

With 243 more Utahns hospitalized with the virus since last week, nearly 36,000 COVID patients have been admitted to hospital since the start of the pandemic.

Utah’s COVID death toll has surpassed 4,800 with 10 more lost to the virus in the last seven days. In the last week the state’s seven-day average of new cases grew from 931 to 970.

Currently, more than two million Utahns are fully vaccinated, almost 63 percent of the state’s population.

In the 27 months since the start of the pandemic there have been 975,507 positive cases in Utah.

The weekly update from Bear River Health indicates 234 new Covid cases the last week in the district which includes Cache, Box Elder and Rich counties.

From the start of the pandemic, almost 53,000 Covid cases have been counted in the district and 2,103 hospitalizations. There have been 247 Covid deaths in northern Utah.