Dear Friends and Neighbors,

During the governor’s weekly COVID-19 press briefing, he reported Utah’s seven-day rolling average at 449 cases. We met our goal to be under 500 cases by August 1 and now our next challenge is to be under 400 cases by September 1. You can watch the full briefing here.

In addition, the Gov. Herbert announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to create a new initiative to provide AWS cloud computing courses and learning resources to 5,000 students in Utah by June 2022. This initiative is especially critical for rural Utah as we work to improve technology and find innovative solutions. Read more about the initiative and how to get involved here.

State Updates:

• The number of total new claims filed for unemployment benefits in Utah was 5,080 for the week of July 26 to August 1 with over $75 million of benefits paid. Read the full report here.

• The Utah Department of Workforce Services is holding a free virtual job fair on August 27 and offering a free virtual job fair prep class on August 26. Learn more at jobs.utah.gov.

• The Utah State Board of Education made adjustments to the requirements and recommendations for school reopening plans and is allocating funds to purchase additional personal protective equipment for schools, additional software for students and help fund counselor training with federal emergency funds granted to state education agencies. Read more here.

• The application for the Pandemic-Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program is now available for Utahns. This program will provide a one-time payment of $308 to children in K-12 who were eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals on March 16. Read more here.

• The Housing and Community Development Division of the Utah Department of Workforce Services adjusted the eligibility requirements for the $20 million pandemic housing assistance program. Read more here.

• Online purchasing is now available for Utah SNAP recipients. More information here.

State COVID-19 Data:

• As of August 6, at 1:00 p.m. Utah's private and public laboratories have administered 555,391 tests with 42,915 testing positive. There are currently 190 people hospitalized with COVID-19. There have been 330 fatalities, with an estimated 31,619 recovered. Additional information can be found here.