The Southwest Utah Public Health Department reported three new cases of COVID-19 in Iron County, bringing the county total to 734. They also reported 61 cases in the region, bringing the total to 4,164.
Eight members of the Southern Utah University community informed the university of a positive test result during the week of Sept. 17-23.
SWUPHD also reported two new deaths, an Iron County woman in the 65-84 age range who died in a hospital and a Washington County man in the 65-84 age range who died in a long-term care facility.
Along with these, The Salt Lake Tribune reported the deaths of a Salt Lake County woman age older than 85 who died in a long-term care facility and a Weber County man age 65-84 who died in a hospital.
The four new deaths bring the state total to 448.
Utah’s COVID-19 numbers remained on the rise Friday with 1,411 new cases since Thursday, setting another record for infections in a single day.
These new cases bring Utah to an average of 960 positive tests per day for the week.
The Utah Public Health Department wrote in a statement, “Unfortunately, today we also see a record number of new cases being reported, which has primarily been driven by an increase of cases among young people.”
The number of cases for patients ages 15-24 has increased drastically since late August, going from 98 new cases per day to a staggering 345 new cases per day.
Brigham Young University is experiencing a rising outbreak on their campus with 167 new cases since Tuesday, bringing their total reported cases to 1,181.
Despite the record numbers, the COVID-19 death rate is staying below Gov. Gary Herbert’s goal of 1% with the current rate sitting at 0.69%.
48 of the newly reported cases were hospitalized, bringing the total of coronavirus patients in hospital care to 3,668.
The positivity rate for COVID-19 tests was down 0.2% from Thursday with a 14% positive test result rate reported for Friday.
With 10,242 test results gathered, it was the largest number of tests in the state for a single day.
Other Utah colleges have reported increases in new cases including University of Utah with 29 new cases since Thursday, Utah State University with 31 new cases since Thursday and Dixie State University with 16 new cases since the previous week.
Utah Valley University reported a decrease in cases with 30, down from 62 since Tuesday.
Story by: Mikyla Bagley
Photos Courtesy of SUU Journal Archives
