SALT LAKE CITY — The effect of Thanksgiving on Utah’s COVID-19 infection rate now appears to be showing in the state’s positivity rate and new cases.
Sunday brought 2,563 new cases out of 9,540 people tested, with a 27.2% positive rate, according to the Utah Department of Health.
After nine days of slightly lower case counts on average, Utah’s rolling daily average of new COVID-19 cases crept back above 3,000 on Sunday, health officials reported. The rolling seven-day average for positive tests is now 3,077 per day, while the average positive test rate is 26.6%.
One week earlier on Sunday, Nov. 29, the state’s rolling average for new cases was 2,354 per day, and the positivity rate was 21.4%.
On Sunday, 595 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Utah, which is eight fewer than were hospitalized the previous day when a new record was set. Intensive care units were 91% full overall, and referral ICUs that can treat more serious patients were 96.5% full.
Over the past several days, 40% or more of the state’s ICU capacity has been used by coronavirus patients. For the first several months of the pandemic, that percentage averaged in the teens. It reached as high as 20% for the first time on Oct. 16, according to state health department data.
For the first time in at least a month, no new deaths were reported on Sunday, leaving the state’s toll at 939.
During the pandemic, 215,407 cases have been confirmed in Utah out of 1,495,351 people tested, with a positive rate of 14.4%. About 153,000 people are estimated recovered after surviving the three-week point since their diagnoses.
Hospitalizations since the outbreak started now total 8,822.
New COVID-19 cases reported Sunday by health district:
- Salt Lake County, 989
- Utah County, 512
- Davis County, 230
- Weber-Morgan, 214
- Southwest Utah, 192
- Bear River, 160
- Tooele County, 80
- Central Utah, 67
- Wasatch County, 43
- Summit County, 38
- San Juan County, 15
- TriCounty (Uinta Basin), 15
- Southeast Utah, 8