Utah reports nearly 3,500 new COVID-19 cases for Friday and Saturday

Jennifer Harkin tests Narong Srinongkot for COVID-19 outside of the Maverik Center in West Valley City on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020. Beginning Dec. 28, Salt Lake County will offer rapid COVID-19 tests at the center, 2050 W. 3100 South, Monday through Saturday,10 a.m. to 3 p.m. No testing will be conducted Dec. 31 through Jan. 2, and registration is required at SaltLakeHealth.org. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah health officials reported 3,489 new COVID-19 cases for Friday and Saturday, as well as eight deaths.

Nearly 2,500 of the new cases would have been reported on Christmas Day out of 8,879 people tested, the Utah Department of Health said. The state didn’t release new data on the holiday. Saturday brought 991 new cases confirmed out of 4,077 people tested.

The rolling seven-day average for new cases is now 2,153 per day, and the average for percent of positive laboratory tests is 24%. On Saturday, 481 patients were hospitalized with the disease in Utah — a substantial drop since the previous Saturday, when 559 were hospitalized.

The Beehive State has vaccinated at least 16,924 of the most at-risk health care workers. More than 76,000 vaccine doses have been shipped to the state.

The deaths reported Saturday bring the state’s toll to 1,212. They were: a Weber County man between 65 and 84; a Weber County man older than 85; a Box Elder man between. 45 and 64; a Utah County man between 65 and 84; a Davis County woman between 65 and 84; a Salt Lake County woman between 45 and 64; a Millard County woman between 65 and 84; and a Washington County woman older than 85. All eight were hospitalized when they died.

The state has seen 264,078 cases confirmed out of nearly 1.7 million people tested for the disease since the pandemic began. Hospitalizations since the pandemic hit Utah total 10,522.

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