FILE - In this April 2, 2020, file photo a nurse holds a vial and a swab at a drive-up coronavirus testing station at a hospital in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
SALT LAKE CITY — For the second day in a row, COVID-19 hospitalizations reached a new record high in Utah with 243 reported by the Utah Department of Health Friday.
State officials announced the previous record, 237, on Thursday.
The health department reported 1,343 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, for a total of 83,290 in Utah since the pandemic began. The number of hospitalizations, 243, includes 86 patients in intensive care units, a number which held steady from the day before.
The new record came just a day after state officials warned ICU capacity was close to maxing out at the University of Utah Medical Center.
Four additional patients died in the latest numbers from state health officials. Of those, all were patients over the age of 65; two were long-term care facility residents and two were hospitalized.
For more details about case counts you can explore interactively, visit our coronavirus tracker here.
COVID-19 coronavirus spreads person to person, similar to the common cold and the flu. So, to prevent it from spreading:
Utah’s Coronavirus Information
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Utah Coronavirus Information Line – 1-800-456-7707
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
