(Salt Lake City, UT) — The Utah Department of Health says three-thousand-303 people have tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, an 82-percent increase from Tuesday. The number is the highest since January 7th when there were three-thousand-842 new cases. The Health Department says the surge is due to holiday gatherings and the omicron variant. UDOH also reported seven more patient deaths, bringing the state death toll up to 37-hundred-and-81. Currently, 442 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized.