Utah coronavirus counts again, with 463 new cases

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After a jump in new coronavirus cases on Thursday, Friday brought even more, with 463 new diagnoses reported by the Utah Department of Health.

But the week-long average remained below the governor’s goal of less than 400 cases per day. And although an Ogden school has instructed its students to be quarantined due to a confirmed case there earlier this week, no new school outbreaks were reported by the state on Friday.

There were three new cases identified in connection with school outbreaks in Utah, with a total of 66 people infected in 13 school outbreaks since the beginning of the pandemic. There have been two outbreaks and 21 cases in schools in Utah since districts began opening their doors last week for fall.

One of these was at an Ogden card school, where some parents received letters encouraging students to quarantine until August 31, because one student tested positive for COVID-19.

The school, Leadership Learning Academy, opened for the fall on Monday, said Heidi Bauerle, lead director for the two LLA campuses in Ogden and Layton. Students can attend in person five days a week, have online lessons five days a week, or do a two-day hybrid in person and three online.

Only of the 425 students on the Ogden campus – Bauerle declined to say how many – were asked to quarantine. Students can receive online instruction while in quarantine, Bauerle said. The letter advises parents to look for COVID-19 symptoms in their children, test their children if symptoms develop, and keep the child at home, observe social distancing rules, and wash their hands frequently.

Over the past seven days, Utah has averaged 351 new positive test results per day, the Utah Department of Health reported. Gov. Gary Herbert had said he wanted the state to receive less than 400 new cases a day by Sept. 1.

On Thursday, after nearly two weeks of daily case reports below 400, the number of statewide diagnoses jumped to 461 – partly driven by a private party in Summit County, leading to the province’s biggest spike in cases since early April, when the Park City area had more cases per principal person than any other part of the state. There were 22 new cases reported Thursday in the province, and another 32 diagnosed earlier in the week, according to UDOH data.

“The rise in cases seems to be primarily linked to a private party, where face masks were not widely used,” health officials wrote in a news release. “The party took place in early August, in Park City, and shortly thereafter began to increase cases. Most cases remain in western Summit County, and are in young adults, ages 25 to 44. “

Utah’s death toll from the coronavirus stood at 383 on Friday, with 2 deaths reported since Thursday, both Salt Lake County men between the ages of 65 and 84, who died in hospitals.

Hospitalizations were down slightly on Friday, with 129 Utah patients admitted at the same time, UDOH reported.

And Intermountain Healthcare announced Friday that it is relaxing its rules for visiting patients in its Utah and Idaho hospitals. The big change is that patients aged 18 and over who do not currently have COVID-19 can have a maximum of two designated visitors during their hospital stay, one at a time.

Visitors are still prohibited for patients with COVID-19, unless the patients are under 18, an adult is needed to keep them safe, women are in labor, or death is imminent. Even people with appointments in the clinics of Intermountain and InstaCare centers can now bring one person to accompany them. Before, patients had to go alone.

On average, 144 patients received treatment in hospitals in Utah every day over the past week – slightly up from the beginning of this week, but below the peak average of 211 patients who were hospitalized a little over two weeks ago.

A total of 2,870 patients were admitted to Utah Hospital for COVID-19, up 17 from Thursday.

Of 48,445 Utahs who tested positive for COVID-19, 39,867 were considered “recovered” – that is, they survived at least three weeks after diagnosis.