Utah's number of COVID-19 cases has increased by 2,899 on Wednesday, with 27 more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Nine of those deaths occurred before Dec. 23, according to the health department. The agency also reported 2,289 backdated new COVID-19 cases that were diagnosed as early as June but were not reported as Utah COVID-19 cases until now due to incomplete or unverified address information for the patient.
The health department now estimates there are 55,544 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah. The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now at 2,840, according to the health department. After climbing above 30% last week, the rolling seven-day positive test rate average has declined for the past several days and is now reported at 27.8%.