Utah’s coronavirus case counts continued to spike as the state’s health department announced 2,386 new cases Sunday.
Utah had a record breaking weekend for COVID-19 case numbers. The state had its highest daily count on Friday when the department of health announced 2,987 new daily infections.
Summit County saw 24 new cases, and last Sunday - for comparison - Summit reported 19 new infections. On Thursday Summit County saw 46 new cases, it’s highest daily count yet.
And in Wasatch County, the health department reported 27 new cases, last Sunday the county saw 13 cases. Wasatch County had a record-breaking day of COVID-19 cases on Saturday, when the health department reported 35 new infections.
Summit County’s seven-day average of positive laboratory tests is currently at 16.3% and 24.5% of tests are coming back positive in Wasatch County. The percent for positive test results in the state is 20.6%.
The state reported one new death — there have been 659 COVID-19 related deaths since the start of the pandemic. Summit and Wasatch Counties have not reported any new deaths in the past week. Summit County has seen one COVID-19 related death since the start of the pandemic and Wasatch County has reported nine.
There are currently 424 people hospitalized with COVID-19, in the state. At this time last week, there were 342 people hospitalized. Just over 78% of all ICU beds are in use.
Both Summit and Wasatch Counties — along with 20 other counties in the state — are in the high transmission risk level of Utah’s COVID-19 Index. This means residents must wear masks in public spaces, like stores and restaurants. Social gatherings are also restricted to fewer than 10 people.
Governor Gary Herbert held emergency meetings on Saturday with the state’s COVID-19 taskforce. On Friday, he said to expect additional policies to combat the virus sometime this week.