Utah reports 2,150 new COVID-19 cases, 13 deaths Saturday

A syringe is prepared as Granite School District teachers and staff receive the first round of the COVID-19 vaccine at Hunter Junior High School in West Valley City on Friday, Jan.15, 2021. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah health officials reported another 2,150 COVID-19 cases and 13 deaths on Saturday.

The new cases were confirmed out of 10,460 people tested, with a 20.6% positive rate, according to the Utah Department of Health. The rolling seven-day average for positive tests is now 2,315 per day, and the average for percent of positive laboratory tests is 24.7%.

On Saturday, 581 patients were hospitalized with the disease in Utah, which is three fewer than were hospitalized the previous day.

The state health department announced its “antibody strike team” deployed for the first time on Saturday at the direction of Gov. Spencer Cox to administer antibody treatments to long-term care facilities experiencing outbreaks of the coronavirus.

“Each team consists of two nurses, two medics, and other health care providers from the UDOH and the @UTNationalGuard. These teams will administer 25 infusions at five different long-term care facilities today alone,” the department said in a tweet.

Nearly 153,000 vaccine doses have been administered in the state, with 9,758 more since Friday’s report.

Since the pandemic hit Utah, 322,252 cases have been confirmed out of 1.89 million people tested. Hospitalizations since the outbreak started total 12,452.

To date, 1,485 Utahns have died due to the coronavirus. Six of the deaths reported Saturday occurred before Dec. 26 and were recently confirmed by the State Medical Examiner’s Office. The latest deaths were:

• A Utah County man, 65-84, not hospitalized.
• A Box Elder County man, 65-84, long-term care facility resident.
• A Salt Lake County man, 65-84, hospitalized.
• A Washington County man, 65-84, long-term care facility resident.
• A Sanpete County man, 65-84, hospitalized.
• A Washington County man, 65-84, long-term care facility resident.
• A Utah County man, 65-84, hospitalized.
• A Davis County man, older than 85, hospitalized.
• A Garfield County man, 65-84, long-term care facility resident.
• A Utah County woman, older than 85, long-term care facility resident.
• A Uintah County woman, older than 85, long-term care facility resident.
• A Washington County woman, 65-84, long-term care facility resident.
• A Salt Lake County man, older than 85, long-term care facility resident.

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