As public health officials push to keep Utahns updated about the availability of the H1N1 vaccine, three people have died and 127 have been hospitalized in the Beehive State since Sept. 1 after contracting the virus.

The Utah Department of Health released statewide data Wednesday showing a "substantial increase in the spread of the pandemic H1N1 virus throughout the state."

The rate of illness locally is above the "outbreak" level for the second consecutive week, officials said.

Pockets of concentrated illness have surfaced, including one that led to the closure of a school this week in Emery County.

Dave Cunningham, director of the Southeastern Utah Health Department, said close to 80 students at Cleveland Elementary missed school earlier this week in the school of just under 200 students.

"The third grade was hardest hit. I'm not sure on faculty," who might have been affected, he said. In checking with area medical providers, officials found they were seeing more people with flu symptoms, and high numbers of people with strep throat.

He said the health department there began vaccinating those most at risk for H1N1 on Tuesday, and by Wednesday "we're already out."

The school was closed to let the flu symptoms run their course, and the school will be sterilized before students return, which will likely be Monday, he said.

State health department spokesman Tom Hudachko said when such pockets are located, "we've got lab supplies that we send to those local health departments, who take samples" from a number of children within the school.

The samples are sent to the state for testing to confirm whether H1N1 is actually present.

Hudachko said he doesn't know of other pockets of the suspected H1N1 virus in Utah, "but I we wouldn't necessarily hear about it unless other state agencies are experiencing something like that."

As many Utahns wait for their chance to be vaccinated, and others refuse to do so, officials said the rate of H1N1 is expected to rise -- maybe sharply -- in the next few weeks.

"If you think of an outbreak occurring on a bell-shaped curve, we appear to be at the base of what could be a steep climb to the peak," said UDOH Deputy State Epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy.

"With vaccine in short supply, it's critical people start taking proactive steps to protect themselves and their families against the disease. It is especially important that people stay home when they are sick with influenza symptoms."

Information on steps for preventing influenza can be found at www.health.utah.gov/h1n1. To find out where to get either an H1N1 or seasonal influenza vaccine, visit www.immunize-utah.org or call 2-1-1.