With 867 new COVID-19 cases, Utah sets another record Friday
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With 867 new coronavirus cases reported on Friday, Utah reached another record increase two days after Thursday’s spike of 722.
”We all have the responsibility to do our individual part to help turn the tide of our ongoing spike in cases. Our hospitals need our cooperation and our high-risk populations need our cooperation,” state epidemiologist Angela Dunn wrote in a prepared statement.
“I know we can turn this trend around, and we can do it by practicing physical distancing, wearing masks, staying home and away from others when we are sick, and washing our hands regularly,” she added, repeating the advice officials have been urging for weeks.
The surge of new cases is not isolated to any one area. Salt Lake, Utah and Davis counties and the Central Utah Health Department all posted their highest single-day increases on Friday; Tooele County, and the Southeast Utah and Weber-Morgan health departments on Friday all posted their highest-yet seven-day averages for daily new cases.
Meanwhile, Summit and San Juan counties and the Bear River Health Department each posted their highest seven-day averages since major outbreaks there earlier in the pandemic had seemingly resolved.
Hospitalizations also went up sharply on Friday, with 48 new admissions reported. There were 187 patients occupying Utah’s hospitals on Friday, up ten from Thursday.
The Utah Department of Health reported two new deaths, bringing the state’s total to 207. They are:
• A Washington County man, between the ages of 65 and 84, who died in a hospital.
• A Salt Lake County woman, older than 85, who lived in a long-term care facility.
Of the 28,223 Utahns who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, 16,261 are considered “recovered” — that is, they have survived for at least three weeks after being diagnosed.
