Officials say 17 of the newly confirmed coronavirus deaths occurred before Dec. 20.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Matt Mendoza, a scribe for a doctor’s office, receives the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday. The Weber-Morgan Health Department began distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to health care workers in non-hospital settings at Weber State University’s Dee Events Center, Jan. 5, 2020. The health department hopes to vaccinate 1,000 a day.
The Utah Department of Health reported 29 COVID-19 related deaths on Thursday — with a caveat. Twelve of those are people who died in the past day, and 17 died before Dec. 20.
According to a new release from UDOH, “there can be a delay in final determinations” of causes of death “because the Office of the Medical Examiner takes great care to ensure cases reported as COVID deaths are actually due to COVID.”
Vaccinations reported in past day/total vaccinations • 7,568 / 68,030.
Cases reported in past day • 4,597.
Deaths reported in past day • 12 of the 29 reported by UDOH.
Hospitalizations reported in past day • 537. That’s up 12 from Wednesday.
Tests reported in past day • 15,554.
Percentage of positive tests • 29.56%. This is lower than the seven-day average of 32.71%.
Totals to date • 297,317 cases; 1,359 deaths; 11,578 hospitalizations; 1,790,189 tests.
This story is developing and will be updated.
