80 Fully Vaccinated In Utah Die Of COVID-19; 13,836 Breakthrough Cases Reported

At least 80 fully vaccinated residents in Utah have died of COVID-19 as virus cases continue to climb in the state and rest of the country, according to the latest data.

As per the Utah Department of Health, the breakthrough deaths were reported as of Wednesday along with a total of 13,836 breakthrough infections, 735 of which required admission to hospitals.

State health officials reported 1,885 new confirmed COVID-19 cases Thursday, bringing Utah’s total number of infections to 489,236. At least 436 cases involved school-aged children, with 172 of them aged 5-10, 115 aged 11-13 and 149 cases in children aged 14-17.

The state’s rolling seven-day average of confirmed cases was at 1,675 as of Thursday, with the rolling 7-day average of positivity rate at 13.5%.

Health officials also reported 15 additional deaths Thursday, which included unvaccinated and vaccinated residents. The latest number brings the state’s total COVID-19 death toll to 2,779, according to Fox13 Now.

The Utah Department of Health’s latest data comes after Rep. Paul Ray, R-Utah, slammed a report by the Intermountain Healthcare system where it said that the state’s intensive care units are at 100% capacity.

“IHC says they’re out of space. They’re not out of space. They’re out of employees. They chased their doctors away. They chased their nurses away. They made it hell for their employees,” Ray said, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

“They got caught in the middle of a pandemic trying to change their business model to increase their billion-dollar bottom line so they can make more money. They got caught with their pants down. Now all of a sudden it’s our fault.”

Ray also accused Primary Children Hospital of lying when it said that its pediatric ICU capacity is at 103% and urged it to “stop fear-mongering.”

“Primary Children’s they said was at 103% capacity in their pediatric ICU. They had two COVID patients, the rest were trauma and RSV,” he said, adding: “Let’s get some honesty here. Let’s quit trying to push people and just let them make their own decisions for once and get government out of it.”

Nationally, the U.S. has so far reported 42,634,054 COVID-19 cases and 688,486 deaths, according to worldometers data.