SALT LAKE CITY — Utah health officials reported another 2,613 COVID-19 cases and nine deaths on Saturday.
The new cases were confirmed out of 13,104 people tested, with a 19.9% positive rate, according to the Utah Department of Health.
The state’s rolling, seven-day average for new cases began again creeping up above 3,000 on Friday. On Saturday, the average case count stood at 3,147 per day, and the rolling average for percent of positive laboratory tests was a still high 32.6%.
Nearly 10,200 vaccines were administered since Friday’s report, bringing the total doses given in Utah to 99,612, the health department said.
Gov. Spencer Cox announced Friday he intends to speed up COVID-19 vaccinations in Utah, targeting those 70 and older as well long-term care facility residents, saying he’s disappointed the state’s effort to date has fallen short since less than half of the vaccine doses delivered to the state have been administered so far.
On Saturday, 535 patients were hospitalized with the disease in Utah, which is eight fewer than were hospitalized the previous day. Intensive care units across the state were 90.5% full with coronavirus patients and others, while referral ICUs that can treat more serious patients were 92.8% full.
Now 303,723 cases have been confirmed out of more than 1.8 million people tested for the disease in Utah since the pandemic began. Hospitalizations from the start of the outbreak total 11,778 in the state.
The state’s death toll due to the disease rose to 1,390 residents on Saturday as nine more deaths were reported. The death rate now stands at 0.46% of confirmed cases.
Among the most recent deaths, the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City announced Saturday that Reverend Reynato “Rene” T. Rodillas died after testing positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.
After visiting the emergency room and receiving oxygen, he was sent home to quarantine and recover. He was believed to have died on Friday, but the date of his death is being investigated by the state medical examiner’s office.
Father Rodillas, 58, came from the Phillipines to serve in the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 2007. He most recently served at Saint James the Just in Ogden, where he was appointed as pastor in 2019.
The Diocese asked the community to keep his family, friends and parishioners in its prayers.
The latest victims also include:
- Two Salt Lake County men between 45 and 64 who were both hospitalized when they died.
- Two Salt Lake County men and one Uintah County man older than 85, one of whom was hospitalized.
- A Davis County man, a Salt Lake County man, and two Weber County men between 65 and 84 who also died while hospitalized.