Number of New COVID-19 Cases in Utah Rises to Nearly 700

The state also reports five more deaths.

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New cases of COVID-19 are on the rise again in Utah. Since hitting a nine-month low of 221 on Monday, that number more than doubled to 481 on Tuesday, and jumped to 699 on Wednesday.

The number of hospitalizations also increased, and the Utah Department of Health reported five more deaths. Four of the five deaths occurred before February 17 and were only recently confirmed as related to the coronavirus.

Vaccine dose administered in the previous day / total doses administered • 27,654 / 1,054,727.

Fully vaccinated Utahns • 384,054.

Cases reported the day before • 699.

Deaths reported the day before • Five.

The deaths were: a woman 85 years or older in Salt Lake County; a 45-64-year-old man in San Juan County; a woman ages 65 to 84 in Utah County; a man aged 65 to 84 in Washington County; and a 65-84-year-old woman in Weber County.

Hospitalizations reported the day before • 180. That’s nine more than Tuesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 63 are in intensive care units, eight more than Tuesday.

Tests reported the day before • 8,666 people were tested for the first time. A total of 19,892 people were evaluated.

Percentage of positive tests • Under the state’s original method, the rate is 8.1%. That’s roughly the same as the 8.3% seven-day average.

His new method counts all test results, including repeated tests on the same individual. Wednesday’s rate is now 3.5%, lower than the seven-day average of 4.1%.

[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Here’s what that means.]

Totals to date • 379,780 cases; 2,037 deaths; 15,198 hospitalizations; 2,307,238 people tested.