Utah
Utah confirms 6,776 new COVID-19 cases, 10 additional deaths over past week
Registered nurse Erin Olpin attracts a COVID-19 vaccination dose on the Legacy Occasions Middle in Farmington on Jan. 24. Utah well being officers reported 6,776 new COVID-19 circumstances and 10 further deaths over the previous seven days. (Mengshin Lin, Deseret Information)
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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah continues to see a small improve in COVID-19 circumstances and hospitalizations, according to the continued summer season surge of the illness.
The Utah Division of Well being on Thursday reported 6,776 new COVID-19 circumstances and 10 further deaths from the previous seven days.
The weekly common for brand spanking new circumstances is 968 every day. That’s simply barely above the common the earlier week, which was 932 circumstances every day.
State information doesn’t embrace numbers don’t embrace those that took at-home exams for COVID-19, or who had been asymptomatic and/or didn’t check.
Hospitalizations proceed to rise slowly, in response to Thursday’s report. There are 215 sufferers who’re hospitalized with the coronavirus throughout Utah, a rise of 23 since Thursday final week. Information exhibits 39 sufferers are within the intensive care unit for confirmed COVID-19 circumstances.
The share of people that visited the emergency room and had COVID-19 this week additionally elevated barely to 4.61% in comparison with 4.25% final week.
Although some metrics present will increase, wastewater testing — which public well being officers are relying on to get an correct image of the present COVID-19 scenario, as far fewer individuals are getting examined — confirmed a lower for the primary time in a number of weeks.
Now 47.1% of wastewater testing websites have confirmed elevated or growing virus ranges, in comparison with a excessive of 73.5% the earlier week.
Whereas the stealth omicron variant — which medical doctors imagine to be extra transmissible however much less lethal than earlier variants, stays distinguished — a brand new subvariant is starting to account for lots of the newest circumstances, state well being division information exhibits.
The variant BA.2.12.1, one other pressure of omicron, began to grow to be dominant throughout the U.S. in late spring, overtaking the stealth omicron variant. Information present it started catching up with stealth omicron in early Could. Whereas analysis on the brand new variant continues to be underway, specialists say that, like omicron, it seems extremely transmissible however much less extreme. The variant can also be extra prone to trigger reinfection, in comparison with different variants, Vox reported.