The Southwest Utah Public Health Department reported two new cases of COVID-19 in Iron County, bringing the county total to 855 with 99 of these being active cases. They also reported 47 new cases in the region, bringing the total for confirmed cases to 5,160.
Six members of the Southern Utah University community informed the university of a positive test result during the week of Oct. 8-14.
SWUPHD reported no new deaths, while eight new deaths were reported to the Utah Department of Health for the entire state, bringing the state total to 537.
The deceased were reportedly a Davis County man, a Box Elder County man, a Salt Lake County man, two Utah County men and two Utah County women all above the age of 45.
Utah’s positive test results remained on the rise Friday with 1,496 additional cases since Thursday. These new cases bring the state to an average of 1,224 new positive tests per day for the week.
Hospitals across Utah saw a sharp increase in coronavirus patients on Friday with 290 people hospitalized. The weekly average of hospitalizations also reached a new high of 256.
Friday surpassed the weeklong average of 8,000 new test results reported each day with a total of 9,307 test results reported. Of these tests 13.9% came back with a positive result.
Currently, 23 counties across Utah are red for COVID-19 14-Day case rates reported per 100,000 people. These red counties are rated as “very high” with greater than 200 cases reported in the last two weeks.
These trends have prompted a revival of restrictions by Gov. Gary Herbert, including mask and social gatherings limits of 10 people mandated for those counties rated as high for level of transmission. These regulations will also be implemented in counties labeled as moderate risk until Oct. 29.
In the SWUPHD region, only Garfield County is labeled high risk. Iron and Washington are labeled as moderate risk and Beaver, Kane and Piute are labeled low risk.
Story by: Mikyla Bagley
Photos by SUU Journal
