Utah COVID-19 case counts rise 4.9%

Mike Stucka USA TODAY NETWORK
·3 min read
Making Sacrifices 2 of 8Dimitri screams with delight when he gets the answer.Luis and Irene Ferrolho have spent most of the past 15 months of the pandemic at home with their children, twins Alexandra and Dimitri, 8 years old. Because Dimitri suffers from severe disability due to being born premature, they can’t risk exposure to the Covid-19 virus. Irene had to quit her job and help the children with virtual learning and therapy and Luis does his work online from home. While they have grown closer to each other, they do look forward to less isolation when it is safer for Dimitri

New coronavirus cases increased 4.9% in Utah in the week ending Sunday as the state added 3,385 cases. The previous week had 3,226 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Utah ranked 28th 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 increased 21.4% from the week before, with 605,127 cases reported. With 0.96% of the country's population, Utah had 0.56% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 47 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Within Utah, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Summit County with 225 cases per 100,000 per week; Salt Lake County with 148; and Davis County with 112. 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 1,714 cases; Utah County, with 596 cases; and Davis County, with 398. Weekly case counts rose in five counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Davis, Utah and Salt Lake counties.

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

Utah ranked 28th among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 72.1% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 77.7%, 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 Wednesday, Utah reported administering another 26,848 vaccine doses, including 3,326 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 10,967 vaccine doses, including 1,555 first doses. In all, Utah reported it has administered 5,212,257 total doses.

In Utah, one person was reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 13 people were reported dead.

A total of 938,864 people in Utah have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 4,761 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States, 82,468,606 people have tested positive and 999,602 people have died.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Utah's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, May 15.

Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 140

  • The week before that: 130

  • Four weeks ago: 72

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 49,753

  • The week before that: 44,912

  • Four weeks ago: 37,527

Hospitals in 45 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 29 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 41 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

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.

This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: COVID-19 tracker: Utah case counts rise 4.9%