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New cases of the coronavirus appear to be on the rise again in Utah, with 4,597 new diagnoses reported on Thursday the third-highest single-day increase since the pandemic began.
And rather than a single-day aberration, Thursday followed two days with more than 3,000 new cases each in total, the state’s second-highest three-day
case increase so far.
“Here we go,” wrote Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, an infectious diseases specialist for Intermountain Healthcare, on Twitter. “Post-holiday surge.”
The Utah Department of Health also reported 29 COVID-19 related deaths on Thursday with the caveat that 12 of those are deaths reported the past day, and 17 occurred before Dec. 20. According to a new release from UDOH, “there can be a delay in final determinations” of causes of death “because the Office of the Medical Examiner takes great care to ensure cases reported as COVID deaths are actually due to COVID.”