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Utah coronavirus cases up 3,005 Friday, with 8 more deaths reported

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Shoppers and commuters wear masks in downtown Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020.

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With 3,005 new coronavirus cases reported Friday, Utah’s rate of new diagnoses continued to rise — and with more than one in four tests now coming back positive, it appears many infected people have not been diagnosed.

For the past week, the state has averaged 2,728 new positive test results a day, the Utah Department of Health reported. That’s below the peak of more than 3,300, reached on Nov. 22, but continues an increase that began a few days ago after a lull around the Thanksgiving holiday.

Utah’s death toll from the coronavirus stood at 925 Friday, with eight fatalities reported since Thursday. About 300 Utahns have died from coronavirus in the past month.

Hospitalizations held steady Friday, with 587 Utah patients concurrently admitted, UDOH reported. On average, 575 coronavirus patients have been receiving treatment in Utah hospitals each day for the past week — a record high.

In total, 8,652 Utahns have been hospitalized for COVID-19, more than 700 in the past week alone.

For the past week, 25.2% of all tests have come back positive — a record-high rate that indicates a large number of infected people are not being tested, state officials have said. Those people may be spreading the virus unwittingly.

There were 16,129 new test results reported Friday, far above the weeklong average of about 11,000 new tests per day.

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