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A delay in reporting led to an increased number of new coronavirus cases in Utah on Friday, with 552 new diagnoses added to the state’s total, along with seven new deaths.
“Of those 552 cases, 144 of them come from a delay in laboratory reporting since early July, so the current count is artificially high,” the Utah Department of Health wrote in a news release. The state identified the lab that processed the cases.
For tests processed in the past seven days, Utah has averaged 369 new positive results per day, the Utah Department of Health reported on Friday. Gov. Gary Herbert had said he wanted the state to receive less than 400 new cases a day by September 1 – and after three weeks of declining numbers, it would take a sharp rise in infections to exceed that target.
Statewide, the rate of Utah positive testing since May 25 has been above 5%, according to UDOH data.
There were 16,161 new test results reported Friday, but about 1,700 of those were the delayed results from early July, UDOH said. That leaves about 2,460 recent test results in Friday’s count – well below the 7-day average of about 4,150 new tests per day.
Demand testing has dropped since late July, officials and hospital administrators have said; as of mid-July, the state reported more than 7,000 new test results per day, on average.
Hospitalizations were down slightly on Friday, with 171 Utah patients admitted at the same time, UDOH reported. On average, 190 patients received treatment in Utah hospitals every day over the past week, continuing with a drop in a peak of an average of 211 patients who were hospitalized about two weeks ago.
A total of 2,744 patients were admitted to Utah Hospital for COVID-19, up 23 from Thursday.
Utah’s death toll from coronavirus rose to 360 on Friday, with seven deaths reported since Monday:
- A woman from San Juan County, aged 65 to 84, who lived in a long-term care facility.
- A woman from Utah County, age 65 to 84, who died in a hospital.
- A Salt Lake County woman, ages 45 to 64, who died in a hospital.
- Three women in Salt Lake County, ages 65 to 84, each living in a nursing home.
- A Salt Lake County man over the age of 85 living in a long-term care facility.
Of 45,976 Utahns who tested positive for COVID-19, 36,679 were considered “recovered” – that is, they survived at least three weeks after diagnosis.
