Utah cases of coronavirus spikes to 257 in one day

SALT LAKE CITY — The number of coronavirus cases in Utah shot up overnight, going from around 180 to 257 in 24 hours, just one day after the state announced its first COVID-19 death.

At the time of this writing, the Utah Department of Health confirmed 5,048 people had been tested so far in Utah, with 257 positive results for coronavirus.

Salt Lake County had the highest number of cases, at 109, followed by Summit County at 65 and Davis County at 29. The jump in numbers from Sunday to Monday is the steepest yet recorded for coronavirus cases in Utah.

Nine local health districts have reported at least one positive COVID-19 case, leaving four Utah health districts that have no reported cases.

State epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn said Utah has identified specific age groups that are more at risk for COVID-19.

“Those 25 all the way over to 65 all have the same rate of COVID-19. All adults are susceptible to COVID-19. However, those over the age of 65 are more likely to be hospitalized,” said Dunn.

Dunn noted the hospitalization rate for those diagnosed with COVID-19 is 10%.

Within the next coming weeks, state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn said Utah should expect a steep rise in positive cases.

Dunn added that local labs are working on increasing the number of tests for potential patients.

“The University of Utah and ARUP announced they have increased their capacity to test 1,500 Utahns every single day for COVID-19. And they are hoping to increase that to 3,000 per day by the end of this week,” Dunn said.

Utah is relying on local laboratories to test for COVID-19 as the state isn’t receiving resources from FEMA.

In regards to medication to treat COVID-19, Dunn said all potential drugs are in the very early stages of tests and are not available to patients.