Utah’s 7-day average for new COVID-19 cases passes 3,000 again, but no new deaths reported Sunday

A COVID-19 test is prepared by registered nurse Kathy Pouzuoli for a Woods Cross High School student athlete at the school in Woods Cross on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. A state public health order requires that high schools verify that each participant in athletic and extracurricular activities receive a COVID-19 test before taking part in the activity. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — The effects of Thanksgiving on Utah’s COVID-19 infection rate now appears to be showing in the state’s positivity rate and new cases.

Sunday brought 2,563 new cases out of 9,540 people tested, with a 27.2% positive rate, according to the Utah Department of Health.

After nine days of slightly lower case counts on average, Utah’s rolling daily average of new COVID-19 cases crept back above 3,000 on Sunday, health officials reported. The rolling seven-day average for positive tests is now 3,077 per day, while the average positive test rate is 26.6%.

One week earlier on Sunday, Nov. 29, the state’s rolling average for new cases was 2,354 per day, and the positivity rate was 21.4%.

On Sunday, 595 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Utah, which is eight fewer than were hospitalized the previous day when a new record was set. Intensive care units were 91% full overall, and referral ICUs that can treat more serious patients were 96.5% full.

For the first time in at least a month, no new deaths were reported on Sunday, leaving the state’s toll at 939.

During the pandemic, 215,407 cases have been confirmed in Utah out of 1,495,351 people tested, with a positive rate of 14.4%. About 153,000 people are estimated recovered after surviving the three-week point since their diagnoses. Hospitalizations since the outbreak started now total 8,822.

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