SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — While it started off with a terrifying outbreak in January, COVID-19 rates stayed relatively low through most of 2022, though over 405,000 cases were reported statewide, according to the Utah Department of Health.
The year’s total breakdown of COVID-19 statistics can be found on UDOH’s Coronavirus Dashboard. It should be noted that the dashboard only presents raw numbers. No analysis of those numbers has been provided by medical officials.
If there was any positive to another year of the pandemic, it’s that deaths declined over 2021, with less than 1,250 Utahns dying from the disease, down from around 1,900 people in 2021 — a 34.2% drop. Non-fatal reported cases of COVID-19, however, jumped by 72% over 2021, from around 235,537 to 405,532.
The great majority of those cases came from very late December 2021 to early February 2022. Numbers declined significantly across spring with a much smaller resurgence showing in the summer months.
So, according to the data:
- Which groups of people had the largest infection rates of the disease? Unvaccinated people between the ages of 19 and 29.
- Which groups of people had the largest hospitalization rate? Unvaccinated people ages 70 and older.
- Which groups were the most likely to die from the disease? Unvaccinated people ages 70 and older.
According to UDOH, in 2022, unvaccinated people were:
- 1.4 times more likely to test positive than vaccinated people and 2 times more likely to test positive than people who were vaccinated and boosted.
- 2.1 times more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated people and 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalized than people who were vaccinated and boosted.
- 3.5 times more likely to die from COVID than vaccinated people and 10.7 times more likely to die than people who were vaccinated and boosted.
However, it also needs to be noted that UDOH’s raw data showed the majority of people who contracted the disease in 2022 were vaccinated and/or boosted. While 156,018 unvaccinated people were counted among those with cases this year, 249,514 cases (61%) came from people who were vaccinated or vaccinated and boosted. That’s a huge turnaround from 2021 when vaccinated people made up only 25% of the reported cases.
Of the 12,096 people who were reported hospitalized for the disease in 2022, only 5,140 of them (42%) were unvaccinated.
However, of the 1,250 who died from the disease, around 700 of them (56%) were unvaccinated.
“COVID-19 vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective,” states the dashboard. “However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness in vaccinated people. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated and boosted people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19. These are called ‘breakthrough cases.’ Fortunately, there is evidence that vaccination may make breakthrough cases less severe and people who are fully vaccinated may be less likely to spread the disease to others.”
