COVID-19 continues Arizona spike; over 3,400 new cases

Arizona reported another 3,428 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, a day after Gov. Doug Ducey pleaded with Arizonans to stay home and take every step to reduce the state’s “unacceptable” trend.

Inpatient beds, ventilators in use and ICU beds in use all dropped Thursday, while emergency department visits for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients hit its highest level, according to the daily report from the Arizona Department of Health Services released Friday morning.

The state also reported 45 additional deaths from the disease Friday morning, but not all occurred in the past day. As of Thursday, 86% of current inpatient beds and 88% of ICU beds were in use for COVID-19 and other patients. Ducey said hospitals could hit surge capacity “very soon,” as Arizona deals with one of the worst spikes of COVID-19 in the country.

Maricopa County health officials said Wednesday more than one-third of its cases have been recorded over the past week.

Reported cases in Arizona: 66,458

i Cases increased by 3,428, or 5.4%, from Thursday’s 63,030 identified cases since the outbreak began.

i County cases: 39,626 in Maricopa, 6,836 in Pima, 5,323 in Yuma, 3,367 in Navajo, 3,035 in Pinal, 2,250 in Apache, 1,713 in Coconino, 1,637 in Santa Cruz, 927 in Mohave, 597 in Yavapai, 509 in Cochise, 309 in La Paz, 237 in Gila, 75 in Graham and 17 in Greenlee, according to state numbers.

i Maricopa County public health officials said Wednesday that more than one-third of all their cases have been reported just in the last week.

i The Navajo Nation reported 7,278 cases and 348 confirmed deaths as of Thursday. The Navajo Nation includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

i The Arizona Department of Corrections said 354 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Thursday; 3,060 inmates have been tested out of a population of 40,263.

i While race/ethnicity is unknown for 43% of cases, 26% of cases are Hispanic or Latino, 17% of cases are white, 9% are Native American and 2% are Black.

i Laboratories have completed 479,330 diagnostic tests for COVID-19, 10.9% of which have come back positive.

Reported deaths: 1,535 known deaths

i Deaths increased by 45 from Thursday’s 1,490 known deaths.

i 718 in Maricopa, 266 in Pima, 122 in Navajo, 91 in Coconino, 84 in Mohave, 79 in Apache, 76 in Yuma, 59 in Pinal, 14 in Santa Cruz, seven in Yavapai, six in Cochise, five in Gila, five in La Paz and fewer than three in Graham and Greenlee.

Hospitalizations hover at high levels

i Inpatients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 tallied 2,110 statewide as of Thursday, down from Wednesday’s record 2,453 patients hospitalized. Hospitalizations have eclipsed 1,000 daily for over the past three weeks, the highest they’ve been since the state began reporting the data April 8.

i Ventilator use for suspected and confirmed positive COVID-19 patients fell sharply on Thursday, with 312 patients on ventilators, a drop from Wednesday’s record of 415 patients on ventilators.

i ICU bed use for suspected and confirmed positive COVID-19 patients was at 581 on Thursday, down from the previous high of 614 on Monday. Thursday was the 11th consecutive day it has passed 500.