658 more COVID-19 cases, 2 deaths, nearly 24K vaccinations reported Wednesday in

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s number of COVID-19 cases increased by 658 on Wednesday, with two more deaths and 23,904 more vaccinations reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.

The state now estimates there are 13,444 active COVID-19 cases in Utah.

The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now at 520, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that time period reported with the “people over people” method is now 8.6%. The positive test rate per day seven-day average calculated with the “test over test” method is now 4.16%.

There are 175 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 73 in intensive care, state data shows. About 71% of all intensive care unit beds in Utah are now occupied, including about 71% of ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals. About 55% of all non-ICU hospital beds are now occupied, state data shows.

A total of 902,391 vaccines have been administered in the state, up from 878,487 Tuesday. There are now 589,997 Utahns who have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 328,509 state residents have been fully vaccinated. A total of 1,108,275 vaccine doses have been shipped to Utah so far.

Tuesday, Gov. Spencer Cox’s office announced the administration’s plan to open vaccine eligibility to every Utah adult, regardless of age or medical condition, by April 1.

“We anticipate opening up vaccine eligibility to every adult in the state on April 1 and will likely have 1.5 million first doses in the state by April 10,” Cox’s spokesperson Jennifer Napier-Pearce said in a statement Tuesday evening.

The Utah Transit Authority also announced it would provide free fares to anyone using transit to get to a vaccine appointment. Any of UTA’s transit modes will be free through June 30 to anyone traveling to a confirmed COVID-19 vaccination appointment, the agency said.

Wednesday’s new numbers indicate a 0.2% increase in positive cases since Tuesday. Of the 2,265,344 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 16.6% have tested positive for the disease. The total number of tests conducted since the beginning of the pandemic is now at 3,952,437, up 18,159 since Tuesday. Of those, 7,955 were tests of people who had not previously been tested for COVID-19, according to the health department.

The two deaths reported Wednesday were a Juab County man who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was hospitalized when he died, as well as a Tooele County woman who was between the ages of 65 and 84 and was a resident of a long-term care facility, the health department said.

Wednesday’s totals give Utah 376,327 total confirmed cases, with 14,986 total hospitalizations and 1,992 total deaths from the disease. A total of 360,891 Utah COVID-19 cases are now considered recovered, according to the health department.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is scheduled to provide a COVID-19 pandemic update at a news conference at 11 a.m. Thursday.

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