STATE REPORT

10.18.2020
UTAH
SUMMARY
• As we continue to work with each of you on data quality and data reporting, we will continue to add relevant data to our joint
understanding. We greatly appreciate the feedback and we use this to continually improve. This week, we have included the data
reported to HHS from your hospitals regarding admissions and next, we will include PPE data reported.
• Utah is in the red zone for cases, indicating 101 or more new cases per 100,000 population last week, with the 6th highest rate in the
country. Utah is in the red zone for test positivity, indicating a rate at or above 10.1%, with the 3rd highest rate in the country.
• Utah has seen stability in new cases and stability in test positivity over the last week.
• The following three counties had the highest number of new cases over the last 3 weeks: 1. Salt Lake County, 2. Utah County, and 3.
Davis County. These counties represent 79.7% of new cases in Utah.
• 79% of all counties in Utah have moderate or high levels of community transmission (yellow, orange, or red zones), with 59% having
high levels of community transmission (red zone); 24 counties had increasing test positivity and 22 had test positivity rates over
10%, suggesting that the epidemic has not peaked yet.
• Sewage data from Utah Department of Environmental Quality suggest increasing incidence across the Wasatch Range.
• During the week of Oct 5 - Oct 11, 5% of nursing homes had at least one new resident COVID-19 case, 27% had at least one new staff
COVID-19 case, and 4% had at least one new resident COVID-19 death. There are apparent outbreaks at facilities in Payson (9 cases)
and Draper (13 cases) and more than 3 cases in a facility in Provo.
• Utah had 271 new cases per 100,000 population in the last week, compared to a national average of 117 per 100,000.
• Current staff deployed from the federal government as assets to support the state response are: 1 to support operations activities
from FEMA and 3 to support epidemiology activities from CDC.
• Between Oct 10 - Oct 16, on average, 39 patients with confirmed COVID-19 and 10 patients with suspected COVID-19 were reported
as newly admitted each day to hospitals in Utah. An average of greater than 95% of hospitals reported either new confirmed or new
suspected COVID patients each day during this period.

RECOMMENDATIONS
• We have included cases, test positivity, and deaths by month in the back of your packet to show the time sequence in Utah and the
country as a whole. These demonstrate the impact of comprehensive mitigation efforts when implemented effectively and that
partial or incomplete mitigation leads to prolonged community spread and increased fatalities.
• New approach that takes into account incidence, test positivity, and hospitalization is excellent and should be rapidly deployed
with mitigation efforts enforced, if possible.
• Continue to expand testing in all counties, particularly among those most at risk (elderly and those with comorbidities) and people
who interact with them; aim to test more than 2,000 people per 100,000 each week in all counties. As testing is expanding, focus on
test positivity and hospitalizations as markers of transmission dynamics.
• Transmission is very widespread across almost all parts of Utah, driven primarily by smaller gatherings of family, friends, and
neighbors; develop educational campaigns to educate residents and recommend avoidance of all such gatherings, if gatherings
cannot be avoided, urge use of face coverings and social distancing, especially in any indoor setting.
• Super-spreader events are still likely in areas where social distancing isn’t practiced and use of face coverings is low; impose or
recommend restriction on the size of public or social gatherings to limit the ongoing possibility of such events.
• Target public health messaging and community testing efforts to those most at risk for infection or severe disease with highly
specific messaging and strategic selection of testing locations.
• Sensitive surveillance will help guide testing and other interventions; expand wastewater surveillance wherever possible and use
more strategically at more local levels to direct testing and interventions. Use routine rapid testing (e.g., weekly or twice monthly)
of at-risk staff, regardless of symptoms, to document extent of silent spread and direct interventions.
• Ensure reporting of all antigen test results, both positive and negative.
• Continue to closely monitor hospital/ICU utilization, resources, and capacity at the local level; feature data on local websites and
use data to inform local mitigation policy and efforts and, working with state and federal partners. Expand capacity where there are
critical staffing shortages or where inpatient bed utilization or ICU utilization exceeds 85% and test positivity is above 5% among 65
year-olds.
• Ensure all hospital staff, especially those in rural areas, are trained on latest treatment protocols, including early use of antiviral and
antibody therapy for hospitalized patients and proper use of high-flow oxygen, positioning, and glucocorticoids.
• Document diligent adherence to CDC recommendations for schools in all areas where hospital capacity is limited or decreasing,
and case rates are increasing in older age bands.
• Hispanic and Native Americans remain at elevated risk due to more frequent multi-generational or crowded housing and may be
under-tested. Expand culturally-specific outreach to these communities and other at-risk populations, educating on risks of
household transmission and emphasizing critical need for face covering and social distancing to protect the most vulnerable.
Expand testing among these populations and provide for spaces and supplies (food) to isolate/quarantine.
• Focus on protecting the most vulnerable by ensuring that all nursing homes with 3 or more cases of COVID per week among
staff/residents over any of the past 3 weeks have had facility-wide testing and complete inspection surveys to investigate and
enforce strict adherence to CMS guidance.
• Specific, detailed guidance on community mitigation measures can be found on the CDC website.

The purpose of this report is to develop a shared understanding of the current status of the pandemic at the national, regional, state and
local levels. We recognize that data at the state level may differ from that available at the federal level. Our objective is to use consistent
data sources and methods that allow for comparisons to be made across localities. We appreciate your continued support in identifying data COVID-19
discrepancies and improving data completeness and sharing across systems. We look forward to your feedback.
 COVID-19

UTAH
STATE REPORT | 10.18.2020
STATE, % CHANGE FEMA/HHS
STATE, FROM PREVIOUS REGION, UNITED STATES,
LAST WEEK WEEK LAST WEEK LAST WEEK

NEW COVID-19 CASES 8,674 29,893 383,209

+7%
(RATE PER 100,000) (271) (244) (117)

VIRAL (RT-PCR) LAB

14.3% +0.4%* 10.2% 5.4%
TEST POSITIVITY RATE

TOTAL VIRAL (RT-PCR) LAB 88,834** 321,945** 7,141,821**

-1%**
TESTS (TESTS PER 100,000) (2,771) (2,626) (2,176)

COVID-19 DEATHS 32 232 4,931

-3%
(RATE PER 100,000) (1.0) (1.9) (1.5)

SNFs WITH ≥1 NEW

5% -2%* 11% 10%
RESIDENT COVID-19 CASE
(27%) (-13%*) (30%) (22%)
(≥1 NEW STAFF CASE)

SNFs WITH ≥1 NEW

4% +4%* 5% 4%
RESIDENT COVID-19 DEATH
ADMISSIONS
HOSPITAL

* Indicates absolute change in percentage points.

** Due to delayed reporting, this figure may underestimate total diagnostic tests and week-on-week changes in diagnostic tests.
DATA SOURCES – Additional data details available under METHODS
Note: Some dates may have incomplete data due to delays in reporting. Data may be backfilled over time, resulting in week-to-week changes.
Cases and Deaths: State values are calculated by aggregating county-level data from USAFacts; therefore, the values may not match those reported directly
by the state. Data is through 10/16/2020; last week is 10/10 - 10/16, previous week is 10/3 - 10/9.
Testing: CELR (COVID-19 Electronic Lab Reporting) state health department-reported data through 10/14/2020. Last week is 10/8 - 10/14, previous week is
10/1 - 10/7.
SNFs: Skilled nursing facilities. National Healthcare Safety Network. Data are reported separately for cases among residents and staff. Last week is 10/5-
10/11, previous week is 9/28-10/4. Facilities that are undergoing reporting quality review are not included in the table, but may be included in other NHSN
analyses.
Hospitalizations: Unified hospitalization dataset in HHS Protect. These data exclude psychiatric, rehabilitation, and religious non-medical hospitals. In
addition, hospitals explicitly identified by states/regions as those from which we should not expect reports were excluded from the percent reporting figure.
 COVID-19

UTAH
STATE REPORT | 10.18.2020
COVID-19 COUNTY AND METRO ALERTS*
Top 12 shown in table (full lists below)

METRO AREA (CBSA) LAST WEEK COUNTY LAST WEEK

Salt Lake
Utah
Davis
LOCALITIES
6 17
Salt Lake City Cache
Provo-Orem Washington
IN RED Ogden-Clearfield Tooele
ZONE Logan
St. George
Summit
Wasatch
▲ (+1) Heber ▲ (+5) Box Elder
Sanpete
Sevier
Juab

LOCALITIES
IN ORANGE
ZONE
2 Cedar City
Price 3 Weber
Iron
Carbon
■ (+0) ▼ (-2)

LOCALITIES
IN YELLOW
ZONE
1 Vernal 3 Uintah
Emery
Duchesne
▼ (-1) ■ (+0)
Change from previous week’s alerts: ▲ Increase ■ Stable ▼ Decrease

All Red Counties: Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Cache, Washington, Tooele, Summit, Wasatch, Box Elder, Sanpete,
Sevier, Juab, Millard, Morgan, San Juan, Garfield, Beaver

* Localities with fewer than 10 cases last week have been excluded from these alerts.
Note: Lists of red, orange, and yellow localities are sorted by the number of new cases in the last 3 weeks, from highest to lowest. Some dates may have
incomplete data due to delays in reporting. Data may be backfilled over time, resulting in week-to-week changes.
DATA SOURCES – Additional data details available under METHODS
Cases and Deaths: State values are calculated by aggregating county-level data from USAFacts; therefore, the values may not match those reported
directly by the state. Data is through 10/16/2020; last week is 10/10 - 10/16, three weeks is 9/26 - 10/16.
Testing: CELR (COVID-19 Electronic Lab Reporting) state health department-reported data through 10/14/2020. Last week is 10/8 - 10/14.
 COVID-19

UTAH
STATE REPORT | 10.18.2020
NEW CASES
TESTING

Top counties based on greatest number of new cases in

last three weeks (9/26 - 10/16)
TOP COUNTIES

DATA SOURCES – Additional data details available under METHODS

Note: Some dates may have incomplete data due to delays in reporting. Data may be backfilled over time, resulting in week-to-week changes.
Cases: State values are calculated by aggregating county-level data from USAFacts; therefore, the values may not match those reported
directly by the state. Data is through 10/16/2020.
Testing: CELR (COVID-19 Electronic Lab Reporting) state health department-reported data through 10/14/2020.
 COVID-19

Top 12 counties based on number of new cases in the

last 3 weeks
TOTAL DAILY CASES

DATA SOURCES – Additional data details available under METHODS

Cases: State values are calculated by aggregating county-level data from USAFacts; therefore, the values may not match
those reported directly by the state. Data is through 10/16/2020. Last 3 weeks is 9/26 - 10/16.
 COVID-19

UTAH
STATE REPORT | 10.18.2020

CASE RATES AND VIRAL LAB TEST POSITIVITY DURING THE LAST WEEK

NEW CASES PER 100,000 DURING VIRAL (RT-PCR) LABORATORY TEST

THE LAST WEEK POSITIVITY DURING THE LAST WEEK

WEEKLY CHANGE IN NEW CASES WEEKLY CHANGE IN VIRAL (RT-PCR)

PER 100,000 LABORATORY TEST POSITIVITY

DATA SOURCES – Additional data details available under METHODS

Note: Some dates may have incomplete data due to delays in reporting. Data may be backfilled over time, resulting in week-to-week changes.
Cases: State values are calculated by aggregating county-level data from USAFacts; therefore, the values may not match those reported
directly by the state. Data is through 10/16/2020. Last week is 10/10 - 10/16, previous week is 10/3 - 10/9.
Testing: CELR (COVID-19 Electronic Lab Reporting) state health department-reported data through 10/14/2020. Last week is 10/8 - 10/14,
previous week is 10/1 - 10/7.
 COVID-19

National Picture
NEW CASES PER 100,000 LAST WEEK NATIONAL RANKING OF NEW
CASES PER 100,000 LAST WEEK
National National
Rank State Rank State
1 ND 27 CO
2 SD 28 MI
3 MT 29 TX
4 WI 30 WV
5 NE 31 OH
6 UT 32 DE
7 ID 33 FL
8 IA 34 VA
9 WY 35 GA
10 MO 36 LA
11 OK 37 CT
12 AR 38 PA
13 MS 39 AZ
14 AK 40 MD
15 IN 41 MA
16 TN 42 NJ
17 KS 43 WA
18 IL 44 DC
19 MN 45 OR
20 NM 46 CA
21 KY 47 NY
22 AL 48 NH
23 NC 49 HI
24 NV 50 ME
25 RI 51 VT
26 SC

NEW CASES PER 100,000 IN THE WEEK:

ONE MONTH BEFORE TWO MONTHS BEFORE THREE MONTHS BEFORE

DATA SOURCES
Note: Some dates may have incomplete data due to delays in reporting. Data may be backfilled over time, resulting in week-to-week
changes.
Cases: County-level data from USAFacts through 10/16/2020. Last week is 10/10 - 10/16; the week one month before is 9/12 - 9/18; the
week two months before is 8/15 - 8/21; the week three months before is 7/18 - 7/24.
 COVID-19

National Picture
VIRAL (RT-PCR) LAB TEST POSITIVITY LAST WEEK NATIONAL RANKING OF TEST
POSITIVITY LAST WEEK
National National
Rank State Rank State
1 MT 27 GA
2 ID 28 AK
3 UT 29 AZ
4 SD 30 FL
5 NE 31 MI
6 WI 32 CO
7 OK 33 WY
8 MO 34 LA
9 IA 35 MD
10 KS 36 PA
11 TN 37 WV
12 MS 38 OH
13 AL 39 HI
14 KY 40 NJ
15 ND 41 CA
16 NV 42 WA
17 IN 43 CT
18 TX 44 DE
19 AR 45 NH
20 SC 46 RI
21 MN 47 NY
22 NM 48 MA
23 OR 49 DC
24 VA 50 ME
25 NC 51 VT
26 IL

VIRAL (RT-PCR) LAB TEST POSITIVITY IN THE WEEK:

ONE MONTH BEFORE TWO MONTHS BEFORE THREE MONTHS BEFORE

DATA SOURCES
Note: Some dates may have incomplete data due to delays in reporting. Data may be backfilled over time, resulting in week-to-week
changes.
Testing: Combination of CELR (COVID-19 Electronic Lab Reporting) state health department-reported data and HHS Protect laboratory
data (provided directly to Federal Government from public health labs, hospital labs, and commercial labs) through 10/14/2020. Last
week is 10/8 - 10/14; the week one month before is 9/10 - 9/16; the week two months before is 8/13 - 8/19; the week three months before
is 7/16 - 7/22.
 COVID-19

National Picture
NEW DEATHS PER 100,000 LAST WEEK NATIONAL RANKING OF NEW
DEATHS PER 100,000 LAST WEEK
National National
Rank State Rank State
1 ND 27 KY
2 AR 28 NM
3 SD 29 CO
4 KS 30 MI
5 FL 31 PA
6 IA 32 DE
7 MS 33 WV
8 AL 34 CA
9 MT 35 NH
10 MO 36 UT
11 WI 37 DC
12 TN 38 ID
13 RI 39 AZ
14 GA 40 AK
15 IN 41 VA
16 LA 42 MD
17 MA 43 WY
18 IL 44 WA
19 NE 45 OH
20 TX 46 NY
21 SC 47 NJ
22 NV 48 OR
23 OK 49 CT
24 NC 50 ME
25 MN 51 VT
26 HI

NEW DEATHS PER 100,000 IN THE WEEK:

ONE MONTH BEFORE TWO MONTHS BEFORE THREE MONTHS BEFORE

DATA SOURCES
Note: Some dates may have incomplete data due to delays in reporting. Data may be backfilled over time, resulting in week-to-week
changes.
Deaths: County-level data from USAFacts through 10/16/2020. Last week is 10/10 - 10/16; the week one month before is 9/12 - 9/18; the
week two months before is 8/15 - 8/21; the week three months before is 7/18 - 7/24.
 COVID-19

METHODS
STATE REPORT | 10.18.2020
COLOR THRESHOLDS: Results for each indicator should be taken in context of the findings for related indicators (e.g.,
changes in case incidence and testing volume). Values are rounded before color classification.
Metric Dark Green Light Green Yellow Orange Red
New cases per 100,000 population per week ≤4 5–9 10 – 50 51 – 100 ≥101

Percent change in new cases per 100,000 population ≤-26% -25% – -11% -10% – 0% 1% – 10% ≥11%

Diagnostic test result positivity rate ≤2.9% 3.0% – 4.9% 5.0% – 7.9% 8.0% – 10.0% ≥10.1%

Change in test positivity ≤-2.1% -2.0% – -0.6% -0.5% – 0.0% 0.1% – 0.5% ≥0.6%

Total diagnostic tests resulted per 100,000 population ≥2001 1001 – 2000 750 – 1000 500 – 749 ≤499
per week

Percent change in tests per 100,000 population ≥26% 11% – 25% 1% – 10% -10% – 0% ≤-11%

COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 population per week ≤0.1 0.2 – 0.4 0.5 – 1.0 1.1 – 2.0 ≥2.1

Percent change in deaths per 100,000 population ≤-26% -25% – -11% -10% – 0% 1% – 10% ≥11%

Skilled Nursing Facilities with at least one resident 0% 1% – 5% ≥6%

COVID-19 case, death

Change in SNFs with at least one resident COVID-19 ≤-2% -1% – 1% ≥2%
case, death

DATA NOTES
• Some dates may have incomplete data due to delays in reporting. Data may be backfilled over time, resulting in week-to-week changes. It is critical that
states provide as up-to-date data as possible.
• Cases and deaths: County-level data from USAFacts as of 16:33 EDT on 10/18/2020. State values are calculated by aggregating county-level data from
USAFacts; therefore, values may not match those reported directly by the state. Data are reviewed on a daily basis against internal and verified external
sources and, if needed, adjusted. Last week data are from 10/10 to 10/16; previous week data are from 10/3 to 10/9; the week one month before data are
from 9/12 to 9/18.
• Testing: The data presented represent viral COVID-19 laboratory diagnostic and screening test (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, RT-PCR)
results—not individual people—and exclude antibody and antigen tests, unless stated otherwise. CELR (COVID-19 Electronic Lab Reporting) state health
department-reported data are used to describe county-level viral COVID-19 laboratory test (RT-PCR) result totals when information is available on
patients’ county of residence or healthcare providers’ practice location. HHS Protect laboratory data (provided directly to Federal Government from
public health labs, hospital labs, and commercial labs) are used otherwise. Some states did not report on certain days, which may affect the total
number of tests resulted and positivity rate values. Because the data are deidentified, total viral (RT-PCR) laboratory tests are the number of tests
performed, not the number of individuals tested. Viral (RT-PCR) laboratory test positivity rate is the number of positive tests divided by the number of
tests performed and resulted. Resulted tests are assigned to a timeframe based on this hierarchy of test-related dates: 1. test date; 2. result date; 3.
specimen received date; 4. specimen collection date. Resulted tests are assigned to a county based on a hierarchy of test-related locations: 1. patient
residency; 2. provider facility location; 3. ordering facility location; 4. performing organization location. States may calculate test positivity other using
other methods. Last week data are from 10/8 to 10/14; previous week data are from 10/1 to 10/7; the week one month before data are from 9/10 to 9/16.
HHS Protect data is recent as of 08:09 EDT on 10/18/2020. Testing data are inclusive of everything received and processed by the CELR system as of 19:00
EDT on 10/17/2020.
• Hospitalizations: Unified hospitalization dataset in HHS Protect. This figure may differ from state data due to differences in hospital lists and reporting
between federal and state systems. These data exclude psychiatric, rehabilitation, and religious non-medical hospitals. In addition, hospitals explicitly
identified by states/regions as those from which we should not expect reports were excluded from the percent reporting figure. The data presented
represents raw data provided; we are working diligently with state liaisons to improve reporting consistency. Data is recent as of 16:54 EDT on
10/18/2020.
• Skilled Nursing Facilities: National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Data report resident and staff cases independently. Quality checks are
performed on data submitted to the NHSN. Data that fail these quality checks or appear inconsistent with surveillance protocols may be excluded from
analyses. Data presented in this report are more recent than data publicly posted by CMS. Last week is 10/5-10/11, previous week is 9/28-10/4. Facilities
that are undergoing reporting quality review are not included in the table, but may be included in other NHSN analyses.
• County and Metro Area Color Categorizations
• Red Zone: Those core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) and counties that during the last week reported both new cases at or above 101 per
100,000 population, and a lab test positivity result at or above 10.1%.
• Orange Zone: Those CBSAs and counties that during the last week reported both new cases between 51–100 per 100,000 population, and a lab
test positivity result between 8.0–10.0%, or one of those two conditions and one condition qualifying as being in the “Red Zone.”
• Yellow Zone: Those CBSAs and counties that during the last week reported both new cases between 10–50 per 100,000 population, and a lab
test positivity result between 5.0–7.9%, or one of those two conditions and one condition qualifying as being in the “Orange Zone” or “Red
Zone.”