SALT LAKE CITY — On the same day the world’s first shots of a fully tested vaccine for COVID-19 were being given overseas, Utah health officials reported another 2,333 cases in the state Tuesday, along with 23 more deaths, the second-highest daily total since the start of the pandemic.
The latest count, just below the grim record of 26 deaths reported the day before Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, brings the total number of deaths in Utah due to the novel coronavirus to 972. Currently, 579 people are hospitalized with the deadly virus, bringing the total of hospitalizations throughout the pandemic to 9,003.
More than 1.5 million people now have been tested in Utah, an increase of 9,906 since Monday. The rolling seven-day average for positive tests is 3,101 per day. The rolling seven-day average for percent of positive laboratory tests is 27%, a slight drop of less than a percentage point from Monday’s all-time high.
While Utah’s numbers continue to be sobering, the news Tuesday that medical personnel and the elderly were being vaccinated in Britain was welcomed by Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, an infectious diseases physician with Intermountain Healthcare.
“It’s just a historic time,” Stenehjem said. “It is a reason to celebrate and also recognize just the incredible advances in science that have allowed us to go from the genetic sequence in January to a vaccine being administered to the general population in less than a year. That’s just incredible.”
Vaccine approval is still pending in the United States, but even once shots are available, Stenehjem said all Utahns, whether or not they’ve been vaccinated, will still have to take the same precautions against the virus, including wearing masks, for months to come.
“Just because we have a vaccine starting to be administered in the U.K. and hopefully will be starting to be administered here in Utah in the coming seven to 10 to 14 days, we are by no means out of the woods from this pandemic,” he said.
While the first doses sent to Utah will go to front-line health care workers, “we have millions of people in Utah that won’t be seeing vaccines for months. I think we’ll be lucky if we’re going to get widespread dissemination of this vaccine before March,” Stenehjem said. “Because of that, these public health measures aren’t going away.”
By spring, he said, the hope is that enough Utahns will be vaccinated to ease the strain on the health care system, although there will still be hospitalizations and deaths. It’s not clear whether mass vaccinations will provide long-term immunity at this point, but should slow the spread, the doctor said.
It will be some time before there can be a discussion of ending masking and other precautions, he said, noting that will depend on how many doses are made available in the state — and on how many Utahns are willing to get vaccinated.
“Vaccine hesitancy runs at an all-time high, and if people don’t come out and get the vaccine, it doesn’t matter if we have vaccine available. If people aren’t taking it, it’s not having the impact,” Stenehjem said. At least 70% of the population would need to be vaccinated, he said.
What the doctor called the “next normal” for Utahns could be here by the spring or summer. For now, what the promise of a vaccine “does allow people to do is maybe see a light at the end of the tunnel. That tunnel is long. It’s still months long.” That tunnel is long. It’s still months long.”
The latest deaths reported Tuesday are:
• Washington County man, between 25 and 44, hospitalized at time of death.
• Utah County man, between 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death.
• Weber County woman, older than 85, long-term care facility resident.
• Salt Lake County man, between 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death.
• Salt Lake County man, older than 85, long-term care facility resident.
• Salt Lake County woman, between 65 and 84, long-term care facility resident.
• Salt Lake County woman, older than 85, hospitalized at time of death.
• Salt Lake County man, between 45 and 64, long-term care facility resident.
• Utah County man, older than 85, hospitalized at time of death.
• Salt Lake County woman, older than 85, hospitalized at time of death.
• Utah County man, older than 85, long-term care facility resident.
• Sanpete County man, between 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death.
• Weber County man, between 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death.
• Utah County man, between 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death.
• Utah County woman, between 65 and 84, not hospitalized at time of death.
• Sevier County man, older than 85, long-term care facility resident.
• Salt Lake County man, between 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death.
• San Juan County woman, between 44 and 65, hospitalized at time of death.
• Salt Lake County man, between 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death.
• Salt Lake County man, between 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death.
• Salt Lake County woman, between 65 and 84, hospitalized at time of death.
• Washington County woman, between 25 and 44, hospitalized at time of death.
• Salt Lake County woman, older than 85, long-term care facility resident.