COVID-19 tracker: Utah cases fall, state ranks 13th among states for rate of new cases
Utah reported far fewer coronavirus cases in the week ending Sunday, adding 8,957 new cases. That's down 10.3% from the previous week's tally of 9,981 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Utah ranked 13th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 9.7% from the week before, with 593,153 cases reported. With 0.96% of the country's population, Utah had 1.51% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 12 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
Across Utah, cases fell in six counties, with the best declines in Utah County, with 1,698 cases from 1,915 a week earlier; in Davis County, with 1,049 cases from 1,258; and in Salt Lake County, with 2,788 cases from 2,997.
Utah ranked 31st among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 60.2% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 65.9%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.
In the week ending Sunday, Utah reported administering another 59,013 vaccine doses, including 12,567 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 97,370 vaccine doses, including 27,051 first doses. In all, Utah reported it has administered 3,584,037 total doses.
Within Utah, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Tooele County with 412 cases per 100,000 per week; Davis County with 295; and San Juan County with 274. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
Adding the most new cases overall were Salt Lake County, with 2,788 cases; Utah County, with 1,698 cases; and Davis County, with 1,049.
In Utah, 73 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 51 people were were reported dead.
A total of 529,147 people in Utah have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 3,067 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 44,933,336 people have tested positive and 724,317 people have died.
Note: For Utah, Johns Hopkins University reports data mostly by health department, such as the combined Weber-Morgan agency. Weber and Morgan counties may be marked as having no cases. The county-level data for Utah is considerably worse than it is for any other state, and county comparisons may be wildly misleading.
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Oct. 17.
Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
- Last week: 547
- The week before that: 609
- Four weeks ago: 587
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
- Last week: 80,739
- The week before that: 84,704
- Four weeks ago: 111,294
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.