SALT LAKE CITY-Thursday, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, during his remarks in addressing the media at the Utah State Capitol Building, confirmed masks are now required in all K-12 schools in Utah.
These are for visitors, students, staff and faculty at all school buildings. Deseret News reporter Amy Donaldson confirmed that for football games, media may need to have their temperature checked and be checked for symptoms upon entering the press box. This would be up to local administrators, Donaldson confirmed.
Herbert did this, citing the increase in COVID-19 cases that have Utah among the leaders worldwide in this category at this time.
Herbert encourages all Utahns to take the initiative to wear masks on their own when they are out in public.
Herbert is also hoping to have less than 500 COVID-19 cases daily in the Beehive State as of August 1.
In her brief remarks, Utah state epidemiologist Dr. Angela C. Dunn confirmed the Healthy Together app, which was launched in April to track contact tracing will be turned off. Dunn cited its “unpopularity” among Utahns as the reason why.
Dunn did say she hopes for downloads to occur so that it will still be used.
Dunn also revealed the numbers for Thursday, which are as follows:
Since statistics have been kept, there have been 27,356 recorded cases of COVID-19 in the Beehive State. This is an increase of 601 in the past 24 hours. However, it is also a -121 decrease in the net cases in the same span.
There are presently 15,661 recoveries from COVID-19 in Utah. This is an increase of 483 recoveries in the past 24 hours and a net increase of 69 recoveries in the same span. Presently, 57.24 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Utah are recovered.
There are presently 11,491 active cases in Utah. This is an increase of 114 in the past 24 hours but a net decrease of 188 active cases in the same span. Currently, 42.005 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Utah are active.
There have been 388,733 total tests administered for COVID-19 in Utah state history. This is an increase of 2,973 cases in the past 24 hours. This caused the overall positive test percentage to set a new state record: checking in at 7.03 percent. This is the first time the overall positive test percentage has exceeded 7 percent in the Beehive State since records have been kept.
The 24-hour positive test percentage decreased to 20.2 percent Thursday. Wednesday, the previous day’s totals checked in at 24.8 percent.
There have been 1,700 hospitalizations from COVID-19 in Utah since statistics began being kept.
This is a net increase of 22 hospitalizations in the past 24 hours.
There are presently 177 current hospitalizations in the Beehive State from COVID-19. This is a decrease of 22 in the past 24 hours. The current hospitalization percentage in Utah checks in at 10.41 percent. This was at 11.85 percent Wednesday.
As for the current hospitalizations in ICU, this number is currently at 74, which is two down from Wednesday’s 76. This caused the ICU percentage to increase to 41.8 percent from Wednesday’s 38.19 percent.
This is because the -22 current hospitalizations skewed the statistics.
Four new deaths attributed to COVID-19 were recorded in Utah in the past 24 hours. This raises the death total to 205. However, the death rate dropped to 0.00744 percent Thursday. Wednesday, this was at 0.00751 percent.
Wasatch County experienced six new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, increasing the total to 442 cases. The hospitalizations (20) and deaths (4) remained unchanged in the past 24 hours in Wasatch County.
