SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Department of Health reported 778 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, keeping on trend with decreasing numbers of new cases in the last couple of weeks.
Another 18,383 people in Utah have been vaccinated against the disease since Friday, with a total number of 598,434 doses of vaccine given to Utahns since mid-December.
Of those, 200,651 people in Utah have received two doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, which is said by the manufacturers to provide at least 94% immunity from the pandemic illness.
State officials, however, have encouraged everyone, including people who are fully inoculated, to continue wearing face masks and maintain social distancing in order to continue to further decrease the spread of illness throughout communities.
All but Garfield, Piute, Daggett and Rich counties in Utah are still experiencing high rates of disease transmission and have been for some time, according to state health department statistics.
Reports indicate the state has tested more than 2.1 million people for COVID-19, including 6,892 people and 19,646 tests since yesterday, with a rolling seven-day average percent of positive tests at 13.52% or 779 positive tests per day.
In all, there have been 366,034 known cases of COVID-19 in Utah, the first of which was reported in March 2020.
There are 242 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, down from the 255 hospitalizations reported on Friday.
The health department also reported eight new deaths resulting from the virus, including five women and three men. The COVID-19 death toll for Utah is now at 1,842.
The deaths reported on Saturday include:
- Three Salt Lake County men between 65 and 84 who were hospitalized when they died.
- A Salt Lake County woman older than 85 who was not hospitalized.
- A Salt Lake County woman between 65 and 84 who was hospitalized.
- A Utah County woman between 45 and 64 who was hospitalized.
- A Weber County woman older than 85 years old who was hospitalized.
- A Weber County woman between 65 and 84 who was hospitalized.
The Salt Lake County Health Department, which is using age-based phases to determine access to the COVID-19 vaccine, opened appointments to Salt Lake County residents age 67 and older at 6 p.m. Saturday. Visit SaltLakeHealth.org or call 385-468-7468 to register.
Health care workers, long-term care facility staff and residents, first responders, K-12 school educators and staff, as well as Utahns age 65 and older are eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Utah. Local health departments are heading up distribution efforts, but pharmacies and other partners are administering vaccines, depending on eligibility.
One partnering health care company, Nomi Health, is pre-registering eligible Utahns for thousands of vaccines through vaccines.nomihealth.com/utah. Nomi Health locations will be open in Lehi, Vineyard and South Jordan.
Vaccine eligibility is expected to open to more Utahns, including those with a variety of high-risk medical conditions on March 1.
For more information about vaccine eligibility or Utah’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit coronavirus.utah.gov.