UTAH, Nov. 17, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — The Utah Department of Health on Wednesday announced 13 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 2,219 new cases since its last report, which was Tuesday.
Known cases for Utah now stand at 579,376 since the beginning of the pandemic. Of the newly reported cases since Tuesday, 495 were in school children: 278 cases in children ages 5 through 10, 105 cases in ages 11 through 13, and 112 cases in children 14 through 17.
Documented coronavirus deaths here number 3,398.
The 13 losses were of:
- A female, between 65-84, Piute County resident, hospitalized at time of death
- A female, between 65-84, Utah County resident, long-term care facility resident
- A male, between 15-24, Uintah County resident, unknown if hospitalized at time of death (not a minor)
- A male, between 45-64, Utah County resident, hospitalized at time of death
- A male, between 65-84, Rich County resident, hospitalized at time of death
- 3 males, between 65-84, Salt Lake County residents, hospitalized at time of death
- A male, between 65-64, Duchesne County resident, hospitalized at time of death
- A female, between 45-64, Box Elder County resident, hospitalized at time of death
- A male, between 45-64, Salt Lake County resident, hospitalized at time of death
- A female, older than 85, Cache County resident, hospitalized at time of death
- A male,older than 85, Utah County resident, hospitalized at time of death
One death reported on Nov. 12; a female, between 25-44, Salt Lake County resident, hospitalized at time of death, has been removed.
Vaccines
Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Risk Ratio:
In the last 28 days, people who are unvaccinated are at 16.2 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19, 10 times greater risk of being hospitalized due to COVID-19, and 4.3 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 than vaccinated people.
Since Feb. 1, 2021, people who are unvaccinated are at 7.9 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19, 6.7 times greater risk of being hospitalized due to COVID-19, and 3.2 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 than vaccinated people.
UDoH reports 3,863,416 people tested. This is an increase of 12,518 people tested since Tuesday. It reports 7,027,216 total tests, an increase of 26,152 tests since Tuesday.
The rolling seven-day average for positive tests is 1,674 per day.
The rolling seven-day average for percent positivity of “people over people” is 16.6%. The rolling seven-day average for percent positivity of “tests over tests” is 10.9%.
There are 557 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19. Total hospitalizations from the beginning of the outbreak are 25,273.
UDoH has made the following changes to the COVID-19 public data dashboard:
Race/Ethnicity Rates
Race and ethnicity (R/E) population estimates are used to determine rates for data such as vaccine uptake, testing, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, officials said. The populations UDOH has been using are based on an individual’s self-selected identity and allows people to identify as one specific race or multiple, combined races. However, many of the partners that report vaccine, testing and case data to UDOH do not capture multiple-race information.
This can create a scenario where a person with a multiple-race identity is counted twice in a population denominator, but only once in a race’s numerator. For example, a person who identifies as both Black/African American and American Indian/Alaska Native would be counted in the denominator for each of those R/E populations. However, when that individual gets vaccinated, they are only able to be counted in one R/E population (either Black/African American or American Indian/Alaska Native). This has resulted in lower rates across all data categories for racial and ethnic minority populations.
To correct this, the UDOH has established an R/E population definition that more closely aligns with data being collected. This allows for R/E numerators and denominators to be mutually exclusive and ensure an individual is not represented twice in the denominator.
This correction to the data resulted in higher rates of testing and vaccination across all racial and ethnic minority populations, and also higher rates of cases, hospitalization, and deaths in these populations.
“UDOH has met with many minority focus groups in the past few weeks and they all feel the corrected data more closely aligns with the lived experiences in their communities,” the UDoH statement said. “The change presents a more accurate representation of how COVID-19 is impacting communities in Utah, and will better inform policy decisions aimed at addressing health disparities throughout the state.”
5-11 Year Old Vaccination
On the “Schools” tab, 5-11 year olds are now represented in the “Vaccinations Among School-Aged Youth” table.
Population Estimates
The data dashboard is now using 2020 population estimates from the United States Census Bureau, as opposed to 2019 estimates. As a result, all measures that rely on population estimates (such as rates and percentages) will change slightly.
The chart below shows COVID-19 data broken down by area of the state:
