Utah COVID-19 case rate stays high

Mike Stucka
·3 min read

Utah reported 10,722 new cases of coronavirus in the week ending Sunday, from 10,987 the week before of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Utah ranked 11th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 2.8% from the week before, with 503,769 cases reported. With 0.96% of the country's population, Utah had 2.13% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 22 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Statewide, there were 14 new deaths counted over the weekend, bringing the total to 3,300 since the pandemic began. Another 566 people were actively hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Monday, according to the Utah Department of Health.

Over the course of the past week, 78 more people were reported dead of COVID-19. In the week before that, 80 people were reported dead.

Within Utah, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in San Juan County with 470 cases per 100,000 per week; Tooele County with 465; and Wasatch County with 396. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Salt Lake County, with 3,462 cases; Utah County, with 2,042 cases; and Davis County, with 1,334. Weekly case counts rose in five counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Utah, Davis and Summit counties.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Utah ranked 29th among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 61.6% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 67.4%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.

In the week ending Sunday, Utah reported administering another 114,746 vaccine doses, including 23,821 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 23,946 vaccine doses, including 6,250 first doses. In all, Utah reported it has administered 3,779,942 total doses.

A total of 560,604 people in Utah have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 3,286 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 46,487,791 people have tested positive and 754,429 people have died.

Note: For Utah, Johns Hopkins University reports data mostly by health department, such as the combined Weber-Morgan agency. Weber and Morgan counties may be marked as having no cases. The county-level data for Utah is considerably worse than it is for any other state, and county comparisons may be wildly misleading.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Nov. 7.

Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 622

  • The week before that: 586

  • Four weeks ago: 609

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 69,049

  • The week before that: 69,531

  • Four weeks ago: 84,700

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.

Marin Ackerman, 10, of Upper Arlington, Ohio, gets a bandage after receiving a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during a clinic for kids ages 5- to 11-year-olds on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The FDA recently authorized use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in children. (Joshua A. Bickel/Columbus Dispatch)

This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Utah's COVID-19 case rate ranks 11th among states