Some clarification is needed regarding numbers in a story last week about the spread of COVID-19 in Sanpete County.
The story accurately quoted Utah Department of Health (UDOH) statistics showing Sanpete County had an average of 31 active cases per day from Aug. 30 to Sept. 12.
What the story did not say was that on Sept. 12, the day of the report, Sanpete County had more 345 active cases.
The story reported that the two school districts in Sanpete County had 42 cases. Those 42 cases were among the 345 total active cases.
The UDOH reports a “case rate” for all counties in the state. The rate is based on the number of cases per 100,000 residents. Sanpete County obviously doesn’t have 100,000 residents.
We don’t know what population number UDOH is using for Sanpete County The latest unofficial census count for Sanpete County is 29,850, which is 29.8 percent of 100,000. To extrapolate the number of cases per 100,000, you need to divide the number of Sanpete cases by .2985.
The numbers posted on the UDOH website last week are no longer available. But the number of active cases as of Monday was 293. That number divided by .2985 gives a case rate of 981 cases per 100,000 population. That is close to the number posted Monday on the UDOH site, which was 947.
The Sanpete rate, both last week and Monday, was much higher than the state rate. On Monday, while the statewide rate, according to the website, was 655 cases per 100,000, the Sanpete rate, as stated above was 947 cases per 100,000.
The good news this week is that for the 14 days from approximately Sept. 6-20, the average daily case rate in the county has dropped 20 percent.
