The Southwest Utah Public Health Department reported 122 new COVID-19 cases on Friday after Utah health officials reported 14 new COVID-19 related deaths and a potential 2,150 newly confirmed cases amid a technological error in the reporting system.
“We are experiencing significant technical difficulties with the data system we use to run our daily case count and test data,” the Utah Department of Health said in a news release.
Officials went on to say that the system errors occurring early Friday morning resulted in “incomplete and artificially low” case counts and tests. Those tests not recorded on Friday’s report will be added to Saturday’s numbers which will result in an artificially high number of cases and tests for that day.
The 14 deaths reported Friday were collected through a separate system not affected by the malfunction. Of the 14 deaths, one was reported to be a Washington County man aged 65-84.
Weber County also reported the death of a man aged 65-84.
Salt Lake County reported the deaths of two men aged 25-44, two women aged 65-84 and two men also aged 65-84.
Morgan and Box Elder counties both reported two deaths. Morgan County reported the death of a man age 65-84 and a man age older than 85; Box Elder reported the death of a woman age 45-64 and a woman older than 85.
Utah County reported the death of a woman age 45-64 while Davis County reported the death of a man also age 45-64.
Southern Utah University recorded its highest COVID-19 numbers with 52 cases reported to campus officials during the week of Nov. 5-12. These included 51 on-campus students and faculty, and one off-campus case.
Utah Valley University also reported a spike in student cases with 77 cases recorded on Friday.
12% of all Utah tests distributed so far have come back with a positive result for a total of 146,005 confirmed cases in the state since March.
The rolling seven-day average for positive cases per day in the state is currently at 2,616. This results in a 23.5% positive test rate per day for the week.
Story by: Mikyla Bagley
outdoors@suunews.net
Photo by: Chris Diamond
