The Utah Department of Health reported 1,971 new positive COVID-19 test results after the “deadliest week in the state since the pandemic began,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Five Utahns have died since Sunday, adding to the death toll of 723 — a Box Elder County man age 65-84, two Salt Lake County men age 65-84 and 45-64, a Utah County woman age 65-84, and a Washington County woman older than 85.
Iron County reported 19 cases (and counting) since Saturday after Southern Utah University reported a record-breaking 52 cases from Nov. 5-11. The university has six more school days of face-to-face classes before switching to fully online classes after Thanksgiving.
Although Utah saw a decrease in daily cases, the seven-day average sits at 2,949, which is an increase of 500 daily average cases since last Monday.
Almost 700 patients were admitted to the hospital in the last week, with 6,859 hospitalized since the pandemic began. Currently a record-breaking 503 patients are hospitalized in the state.
During the past week, 24.6% of test results are coming back positive. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, state officials say this indicates a large amount of infected individuals are not getting tested.
9,500 tests were reported on Monday, which is thousands below the previous average of 12,300 new daily tests.
Story by Amanda Walton
life@suunews.net
Photo courtesy of Christopher Dimond
