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0000017b-652b-d50a-a3ff-f7efb02e0000KPCW's COVID-19 news coverage for Summit County and Wasatch County, Utah. 0000017b-652b-d50a-a3ff-f7efb02f0000You can also visit the Utah Department of Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization websites for additional information.

With More Vaccines In Arms, Utah's COVID-19 Cases Have Plateaued

Pool

More than 50% of eligible Utahns have been at least partially vaccinated for COVID-19, but cases statewide have begun to plateau. 

With new COVID-19 variants on the rise in Utah, case numbers are starting to level out. The rolling 7-day average of new cases statewide has hovered around 400 since the beginning of the month. 

During Thursday’s COVID-19 briefing, State Epidemiologist Angela Dunn said around 50% of new COVID-19 cases are estimated to be the U.K. variant in the state. 

"And that is easier to transmit," Dunn said. "It's easier to spread. And so it makes it even more important for us to get vaccinated as soon as possible, because it's quicker, the increase in spread of cases is quicker right now."

In the Wasatch Back, Summit County’s 7-day count of positive cases has gone down every week since mid-March. But Summit County Health Department Director Rich Bullough said a large number of the county’s new cases are the U.K. variant. 

And Wasatch County has seen a slight increase in cases over the last few weeks. 

But counties in Utah aren’t seeing a large surge in cases. Dunn said Utah is positioned well to see numbers decrease.  

"But the good news is, a lot of the country has been in an increase and just now started to get into a plateau," she said. "So we've been really holding off that additional surge. And it's because of one, of course, the individual actions we’re all taking, like wearing masks and social distancing, but also a really rapid uptake of vaccines throughout the state is holding off that surge."

She said as vaccination efforts continue, they expect numbers to go down. There’s also another measure that could indicate cases decreasing in the weeks to come. 

"But what's even better news is that our percent positivity is decreasing, which shows that we should start seeing a decline in our cases in the coming days and weeks," she said. "Because people out there getting tested are tending not to have COVID which is fantastic. We haven't seen any dramatic or really obvious impact of ending the mass mandate on April 10 to our cases and the spread of COVID."

As of Thursday, Utah has administered nearly 2 million doses of the vaccine. To find more information on case counts and vaccinations you can visit coronavirus.utah.gov.

 

Jessica joins KPCW as a general assignment reporter and Sunday Weekend Edition host. A Florida native, she graduated from the University of Florida with degrees in English — concentrating in film studies — and journalism. Before moving to Utah, she spent time in Atlanta, GA.
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