This report is updated daily at approximately 1:00 p.m. Information on COVID-19 cases changes rapidly, and this report may not reflect updates made after 1:00 p.m. by local health departments or health care systems. Most of the tables, charts, and maps in this report are interactive. Tables can be sorted by clicking on column headings. Maps and charts can be sorted, zoomed, selected, etc. using the mouse cursor and data will appear when hovering or clicking the mouse cursor. Controls will appear at the top right corner of charts when the mouse cursor is placed on the chart.
Report Date: August 26, 2020
The below map shows the crude case rate per 100,000 people per Utah Small Area. Crude case rates show the number of COVID-19 cases in an area given its population. Case rates may be higher or lower depending on the age of people living in a small area and how much testing has occurred there. Small areas with low populations may have disproportionately high or low rates depending on few cases and the number of tests performed in an area. A high rate in an area does not necessarily indicate a current outbreak because rates are calculated from the beginning of the pandemic. “Utah Small Areas” are geographic areas with population sizes ranging from about 8,000 to 86,000. Small areas were created by UDOH and local health departments to assess health data and policies. More information on Utah Small Areas can be found at: ibis.health.utah.gov.
Cases counts and total case rates by Local Health Department (LHD) are shown below. Utah’s LHDs may also report their own case data. Local reports should be considered the most up to date and accurate information for their local area due to small differences in case classifications at any given time. The “Cumulative Case Rate per 100,000 population by LHD” shows the total number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases in an area given its population size since the start of the pandemic.
* The number of recovered persons is estimated by the number of cases whose first positive laboratory test was reported at least 21 days ago, excluding deaths.
Laboratory: The Utah Department of Health (UDOH) is currently reporting PCR and antigen test results and will begin reporting serology results in the coming weeks. Positive test results are reported immediately; negative test results may not be reported for 24-72 hours. Results prior to March 19, 2020 may be under-reported. Laboratory positives may not match confirmed cases due to ongoing investigations and confirmatory testing. When available, laboratory data is shown by the date a sample was tested. If unavailable, it is shown by the date reported to public health. Laboratory data are shown as both the total number of people tested, and as total number of tests performed. For the total number of people tested, one test per person is included by their earliest positive result. If there are no positive tests, their earliest negative result is used.
Case Dates: As of April 15, 2020, case data are displayed by both the date the first positive laboratory result (FPLR) is reported to public health and the self-reported symptom onset date. Previously, this was reported by the first day a person was reported (through laboratory results or contact tracing) to public health. The FPLR date will provide a more stable estimate of the new cases reported to public health; however, there will be small differences in cases by date as public health receives additional information. Onset date is taken preferentially from the following dates when available: 1) self-reported date of first symptoms, 2) date diagnosed by a clinician, 3) date first positive specimen was collected, 4) first report to public health. The actual number of cases in Utah is higher than what is reported due to mild cases not feeling ill enough to seek care, clinician judgment for testing, and expanding laboratory capacity. For more information on how COVID-19 deaths are registered in the state of Utah, visit coronavirus.utah.gov/COVID-19-deaths.
Death Counts: Deaths reported by UDOH include confirmed and probable cases as defined by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) case definition. This includes: 1) confirmed cases with a positive COVID-19 PCR result and no alternative cause of death noted on the death certificate or reported by the Office of the Medical Examiner (OME), 2) probable cases where the death certificate lists COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death and no alternative cause of death reported by the OME, and 3) probable cases with COVID-19 symptoms and close contact to a laboratory confirmed case and no alternative cause of death reported by the OME or the death certificate. Death counts are provisional and subject to change as investigations are completed.
Test Types
PCR Tests: COVID-19 PCR tests detect viral genetic material and are used to diagnose active infections.
Antigen Tests: COVID-19 antigen tests are rapid diagnostic tests that detect specific fragments of the virus. Like PCR tests, they are very specific to the SARS-CoV2 virus and detect active infections. Antigen tests can often be performed at point-of-care facilities. While all test results must be reported, as of July 10, 2020 some facilities had not yet fully implemented reporting for all negative antigen tests.
Antibody Tests: COVID-19 antibody tests, also called serological tests, detect the presence of antibodies to the virus in blood samples. They are typically used to identify people with prior infections. There is a lag between infection and antibody production by the immune system, so antibody tests usually cannot be used to detect active infections.
Case Definitions: UDOH assigns case status following the national case definition, with the exception of considering antigen positive tests as evidence of a confirmed case. A confirmed case is any person with a positive SARS-CoV2 PCR or antigen test.
Data for this report were accessed on August 26, 2020 08:28 AM.
Data on pre-existing conditions are gathered from a variety of sources, including case interviews and medical records (when available). Case interviews are conducted by many public health investigators across state and local health departments to determine what potential medical risk factors cases may have had prior to developing COVID-19. Data gathered through interviews is self-reported by cases and is dependent on willingness to share this information with health departments.
This is not a complete list of conditions and rates may change as public health collects more data and performs additional analysis. Examples of persons with compromised immune systems include those with cancer and transplant patients who are taking certain immunosuppressive drugs, persons living with HIV/AIDS, and those with inherited diseases that affect the immune system. Examples of persons with chronic pulmonary conditions include those with uncontrolled asthma or COPD.
In the data below, counts below 5 are suppressed to protect privacy. Suppressed values in the chart are represented by the percent equivalent to a count of 5 in that category. Cases without complete comorbidity information have been excluded from this chart.
Exposures are determined through (local health department) LHD and UDOH case investigations. Each case is mapped to a single “primary exposure”. Please note that some cases have multiple potential exposures, so cases are mapped to exposures in the following order: 1) Known close contact to a confirmed case, 2) Travel in the past 14 days, 3) Healthcare (either through being a healthcare worker, patient, or visitor in a healthcare setting), 4) In-state transmission with no known contacts, 5) Under investigation. In-state transmission with no known contacts is defined as a patient with no known out of state travel, close contacts, or healthcare exposures. These exposures are commonly referred to as community spread or community transmission. Known exposures are further broken down by type (green pie chart). “Social” refers to exposures between friends and acquaintances; “Other” refers to known contact with a lab confirmed case outside of home, work, and social settings; “Unspecified” is known contact to a confirmed case but without enough information to determine the setting of that exposure.
As of May 27th, UDOH updated the exposure mapping criteria to include additional case data collected on travel, known contacts, and healthcare exposures. Additionally, healthcare exposures in clinical and long-term care facilities are now assigned preferentially to “Healthcare” if the person did not have a household exposure instead of “Known Contact.” These changes increased the number of “Healthcare”, “Travel”, and “Known Contact” exposures reported, and slightly decreased the number of “Unknown/Under Investigation” and “In-state with no known contacts” exposures. Exposure categories are not all encompassing and may change as public health collects more data and updates analyses. The data in “Type of Known Contact” will not match the data in the Outbreak Tab because outbreaks are often identified after patient interviews have been completed when numerous cases are reported from the same worksite or location. For example, as of 6/11/20, 40% of worksite associated outbreak cases with known contact to a confirmed case also had confirmed contact to COVID-19 in the household. This highlights the difficulty of identifying which exposure infected a person out of multiple exposures and how COVID-19 can spread from the workplace to the home and vice-versa. The “Workplace” exposure category is likely an underestimate of the true number of cases who got COVID-19 from their workplace. UDOH is working to update this analysis to better reflect cases with multiple exposures or secondary transmission in outbreaks.
Through a partnership with the Utah Hospital Association, hospitals in Utah self-report the number of COVID-19 cases currently in their facilities each day. The data below provide a snapshot of the number of people with COVID-19 who are currently hospitalized. If a report from a facility is not received in a given day, the report from the previous day will be used. Total bed and ventilator usage percentages are based on conventional capacity, not surge capacity. Due to differences in reporting systems, these numbers should not be compared with the cumulative hospitalization data identified through public health investigations.
| COVID-19 Hospital Survey Data | |
|---|---|
| Number of patients currently hospitalized for confirmed COVID-19 | 118 |
| Number of patients in ICU for confirmed COVID-19 | 40 |
| Patients currently hospitalized as COVID-19 persons under investigation | 12 |
| Percent of all non-ICU Bed Occupied | 53.4% |
| Percent of all ICU Bed Occupied | 64.9% |
| Ventilators Used / Total Ventilators | 192 / 1294 |
| Facilities using prior day data | 5 / 49 |
Hospitalizations included below represent the total number of cases that have been admitted to hospitals. This count does not represent the number of COVID-19 cases currently in the hospital. Hospitalization data is collected from patient interviews and medical chart abstractions by local health departments (LHDs). While UDOH and LHDs capture most hospitalizations through provider reporting, some patients may be hospitalized after the case was investigated by an LHD and therefore not included in this count. Hospitalizations by age may not sum to total hospitalizations because some cases are initially reported without complete age data. Due to differences in reporting systems, these numbers should not be compared with the daily hospitalization data collected through hospital reporting.
The below table presents a variety of summary statistics about hospitalizations associated with COVID-19 in Utah. The pre-existing conditions included are those on the “Risk Factors” tab (cardiovascular, chronic pulmonary, diabetes, immunocompromised, chronic kidney, chronic liver, neurological, current smoking, former smoking, and other).
High Risk: at least 65 years of age and/or having at least one pre-existing condition.
| Hospitalization | Case Count | % of Investigated Cases |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 2996 | 6.2% |
| No | 45428 | 93.8% |
| Under Investigation | 1750 | — |
| ICU | Case Count | % of Investigated Cases |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 760 | 1.6% |
| No | 47230 | 98.4% |
| Under Investigation | 2184 | — |
| Intubated/Ventilator Use | Case Count | % of Investigated Cases |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 308 | 0.9% |
| No | 33149 | 99.1% |
| Under Investigation | 16717 | — |
One way to look at how quickly COVID-19 is spreading in Utah is the number of new hospital admissions every day. Hospitalizations are less dependent on testing than case counts. Admission dates are obtained through public health investigations and not all new hospitalization dates are reported if a case had previously been investigated by public health. The plot below shows the number of laboratory confirmed cases reported by admission date (blue bars).
The below table presents a variety of summary statistics about deaths associated with COVID-19 in Utah. The pre-existing conditions included are those on the “Risk Factors” tab (cardiovascular, chronic pulmonary, diabetes, immunocompromised, chronic kidney, chronic liver, neurological, current smoking, former smoking, and other).
High Risk: at least 65 years of age and/or having at least one pre-existing condition.
The table below shows the number of people tested for SARS-CoV2 and the percent positivity by race/ethnicity group. While positive tests are reported quickly, the full electronic lab report used in the below analysis can take several days to be reported. Similarly, reporting of negative tests may have a lag of several days. The most recent four days (including the current day) have been excluded from the lab test data used below to help account for this lag. As with other analyses of lab data, laboratory positives may not match confirmed cases due to reporting delays, ongoing investigations, and confirmatory testing.
Data on pre-existing conditions are gathered from a variety of sources, including case interviews and medical records (when available). Case interviews are conducted by many public health investigators across state and local health departments to determine what potential medical risk factors cases may have had prior to developing COVID-19. Data gathered through interviews is self-reported by cases and is dependent on willingness to share this information with health departments.
This is not a complete list of conditions and rates may change as public health collects more data and performs additional analysis. Examples of persons with compromised immune systems include those with cancer and transplant patients who are taking certain immunosuppressive drugs, persons living with HIV/AIDS, and those with inherited diseases that affect the immune system. Examples of persons with chronic pulmonary conditions include those with uncontrolled asthma or COPD.
The chart below shows the percent of all cases or hospitalizations in race/ethnicity groups with specific pre-existing conditions. Counts below 5 are suppressed to protect privacy. Suppressed values are represented by a less than sign (<) and the percent equivalent to a count of 5 in that category; this may cause the total percent in that category to exceed 100. Comorbidities are in the order presented in the equivalent analysis on the Risk Factors tab.
Demographic Data: There will be small count differences in data presented by age groups, self-reported sex, and hospitalization status. This is because some cases are not initially reported with all of these data elements and unknowns are excluded from this report. Case data will be updated as local health departments (LHDs) and the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) complete investigations.
Race & Ethnicity: Race and ethnicity groups follow US Census estimates for race alone or in combination in order to provide a broad snapshot of Utah’s growing diversity, including the many multi-racial and multi-ethnic individuals who call Utah home. Groups are not mutually exclusive and will not sum to total.
The two-week cumulative incidence rate summarizes new cases reported in the past 14 days per 100,000 people. It looks at the recent burden of cases in an area given its population. Areas with elevated incidence rates will have a higher burden of ill people who may be infectious and/or currently accessing healthcare.
The current epidemic curve looks at how the trend in cases is changing over time and assigns a trend category to each day, based on whether the three-day daily average of cases is increasing, staying stable, or decreasing. It is calculated by using the daily case incidence rate per 100,000 people (bars), finding the three-day moving average of daily incidence rates (grey points), fitting a smoothed curve to these incidence rates (grey line), and looking at the slope of that curve (colors on the bars). If the slope of the curve is above 0, incidence is increasing. If the slope is about zero, incidence is holding stable (a plateau). If the slope is decreasing after at least five days of plateau, incidence is decreasing.
Please note: Recent increases or decreases in testing can lead to changes in daily incidence. Epidemic curve status can fluctuate from day to day so trends need to be interpreted cautiously and in conjunction with other surveillance data.
The chart below shows how many people are going to emergency rooms and outpatient clinics with COVID-19 symptoms. These cases are calculated by taking the percentage of people with these symptoms or a diagnosis of COVID-19 (CDC case definition) compared to all other emergency room or outpatient clinic visits. Syndromic surveillance can show increases more quickly than lab testing so an increase in this measure might indicate growing COVID-19 illness. The data in this system are also affected by recent changes in health care seeking behavior, including increasing use of telemedicine and social distancing. These changes affect the numbers of people and their reasons for seeking care, so trends need to be interpreted with other surveillance data.
CLI: COVID-19-Like Illness. CLI is defined as anyone with fever and cough or shortness of breath, or a patient with a COVID-19 discharge diagnosis code.
The number and demographic information of different types of outbreak locations are below. Two or more cases associated with a setting outside of the household within 14 days is considered an outbreak. Outbreaks are identified after investigating cases with possible links to a certain setting. This means that outbreak case counts may not match exposure data found in the “Types of Known Exposure” in the Risk Factors tab, which is identified at the time of patient interview. For example, as of 6/11/20, 40% of worksite associated outbreak cases with known contact to a confirmed case also had confirmed COVID-19 exposure in the household. This highlights the difficulty of identifying which exposure infected a person if they have had multiple exposures, and how COVID-19 can spread from the workplace to the home and vice-versa.
The below table shows outbreaks that are not associated with long term care facilities. Outbreak data are preliminary and may change as public health completes investigations or updates analyses. Outbreaks in the “Group Living” category are those in facilities that provide living and services that are not nursing homes or long-term care facilities, including homeless shelters and addiction treatment centers. Outbreaks in the “Detention Facility” category include those in prisons, jails, and juvenile detention facilities. Outbreaks in the “Other Setting” category include those in apartment buildings, cruise ships, groups that traveled together, etc.