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SALT LAKE CITY — Over one million Utahns have now received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, state officials announced Wednesday.
A total of 1,013,308 state residents have now received either their first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or the sole dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the Utah Department of Health said in a Wednesday news release.
"This is a milestone worth celebrating and we hope this number will continue to rise as more and more Utahns choose to become vaccinated," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in the release. "The speed in which we've been able to vaccinate Utahns is a testament to the hard work and dedication by Utah's public health system and our statewide vaccination partners," he added.
The health department initially reported that about 66% of the vaccine-eligible population has now received at least one dose of the vaccine, but later clarified that only about 44% of the eligible population now has at least one dose.
Utah's number of COVID-19 cases increased by 612 on Wednesday, with two more deaths and 34,814 more vaccinations reported, according to the health department. The health department estimates there are now 8,975 active COVID-19 cases in Utah.
The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now at 401, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that time period calculated with the "people over people" method is now 7.2%. The positive test rate per day for that time period calculated with the "test over test" method is now 3.5%.
There are 140 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 55 in intensive care, state data shows. About 69% of all intensive care unit beds are now occupied in Utah, including about 72% of ICU beds in the state's 16 referral hospitals, state data shows. About 52% of non-ICU hospital beds are now occupied in the state, health department data shows.
A total of 1,561,167 vaccine doses have been administered in the state, up from 1,526,353 Tuesday. In addition to the 1,013,308 Utahns who have received at least one vaccine dose, 599,972 are now considered fully vaccinated, according to the health department. A total of 1,835,670 vaccine doses have been shipped to Utah so far.
The new numbers indicate a 0.2% increase in positive cases since Tuesday. Of the 2,424,457 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 16% have tested positive for COVID-19. The number of total tests conducted has increased to 4,323,919, up 18,522 since Tuesday, state data shows. Of those, 7,246 were tests of people who hadn't previously been tested for COVID-19.
The two deaths reported Wednesday were:
- A Salt Lake County man who was between the ages of 45 and 64 and was hospitalized when he died
- A Washington County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was not hospitalized when he died
Wednesday's totals give Utah 388,426 total confirmed cases, with 15,675 total hospitalizations and 2,139 total deaths from the disease. An estimated 377,312 Utah COVID-19 cases are now considered recovered, according to the health department.
Utah's pandemic "endgame" bill, formally known as House Bill 294, requires all state and local health orders related to COVID-19 to end on the day that Utah reaches the threshold in three key metrics: the state's 14-day case rate is less than 191 per 100,000 people, the seven-day average of COVID-19 intensive care unit usage is under 15%, and 1,633,000 prime doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been allocated to Utah.
As of Wednesday, Utah meets the benchmark in the first two metrics, but still has a long way to go to meet the threshold for the third. The state's 14-day case rate is now 178.2, and the seven-day COVID-19 ICU usage average is 9.4%.
Only 992,325 prime doses have been allocated to Utah as of this week, according to health officials. It's expected to reach the 1,633,000 threshold in the second or third week of May, health officials say.
Utah's prime dose allocation is updated weekly, and differs from the number of people who have received one dose of the vaccine, which is updated daily. Since the number of people who have received one dose is updated more frequently than the prime dose allocation, it gets ahead of the prime dose allocation statistic, and the two often don't match up.
Therefore, while the state reports Wednesday that 1,013,308 Utahns have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the state's prime dose allocation stands at 992,325 for this week. The first dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, as well as the sole dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, are considered prime doses.
Also Wednesday, the Salt Lake County Council announced that it would not extend the county's mask mandate after April 10, with some exceptions. However, Salt Lake City's mask mandate will continue after that date, Mayor Erin Mendenhall said.
Methodology
See more details about KSL.com's COVID-19 data and methodology by clicking this link.
More information about Utah's health guidance levels is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels.
Information is from the Utah Department of Health and coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts. For more information on how the Utah Department of Health compiles and reports COVID-19 data, visit coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts and scroll down to the "Data Notes" section at the bottom of the page.
