Arizona reports 702 new COVID-19 cases, 40 deaths

Arizona reported 702 new COVID-19 cases and 40 new known deaths on Tuesday as new-case counts continue fluctuating at relatively low levels.

Arizona’s seven-day case rate per 100,000 people ranked 45th on Monday among all states and territories after ranking first and second for much of January, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Data Tracker.

The states with a lower case rate over the past seven days were Mississippi, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, California and Hawaii. Arizona ranked 51st among 60 states and territories on March 28, but its rank has fluctuated.

The state’s seven-day average for new reported COVID-19 cases was 616 on Monday. The average had reached as high as 9,800 in January, according to state data.

Arizona’s seven-day death rate per 100,000 people ranked 36th in the nation as of Monday, per the CDC.

Percent positivity, which refers to the percent of COVID-19 diagnostic tests that are positive, varies somewhat based on how it’s measured.

Last week, Arizona’s percent positivity was 6%, the highest it’s been after six weeks at 5%, according to the state, which has a unique way of calculating percent positivity. Weekly percent positivity statewide peaked at 25% in December.

Johns Hopkins University calculates Arizona’s seven-day moving average of percent positives at 3% as of Tuesday. It shows the state’s percent positivity peaked at 24.2% in December.

A positivity rate of 5% or less is considered a good benchmark that the spread of the disease is under control.

The state’s COVID-19 death and case rates since Jan. 21, 2020, still remain among the worst in the country.

The COVID-19 death rate in Arizona since the pandemic began is 235 deaths per 100,000 people as of Monday, according to the CDC, putting it sixth in the country in a state ranking that separates New York City from New York state. The U.S. average is 169 deaths per 100,000 people as of Sunday, the CDC said.

New York City has the highest death rate, at 382 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by New Jersey, Massachusetts,

Rhode Island and Mississippi.

Arizona’s case rate per 100,000 people since the pandemic began also ranks sixth nationwide as of Monday.

Arizona’s newly reported 40 deaths brought the known COVID-19 death count to 17,193.

A total of 855,155 COVID-19 cases have been identified across the state. March and April have seen relatively lower case reports. Forty-one of the past 44 days’ reported cases have been under 1,000.

The Arizona data dashboard shows 84% of all ICU beds and 86% of all inpatient beds in the state were in use Monday, with 9% of ICU beds and 7% of non-ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. Statewide, 280 ICU beds and 1,233 non-ICU beds were available.

The total number of patients hospitalized in Arizona for known or suspected COVID-19 cases was 562 on Monday, up from 555 on Sunday and far below the record 5,082 inpatients on Jan. 11.

The number of patients with suspected or known COVID-19 in ICUs across Arizona was at 155 on Monday, up from 145 on Sunday and far below the record high of 1,183 on Jan. 11.

Arizonans with confirmed and suspected COVID-19 on ventilators tallied 76 on Monday, a slight uptick from the past few days and well below the record high 821 reached on Jan. 13.

Monday saw 969 patients in the emergency room for COVID-19, well below the Dec. 29 single-day record of 2,341 positive or suspected COVID-19 patients seen in emergency departments across the state.

Tuesday’s numbers

Reported cases in Arizona: 855,155. Cases since the outbreak began increased by 702, or 0.08%, from Monday’s 854,453 identified cases. These daily cases are grouped by the date they are reported to the state health department, not by the date the tests were administered.

Cases by county: 532,133 in Maricopa, 114,345 in Pima, 50,697 in Pinal, 36,991 in Yuma, 22,454 in Mohave, 18,541 in Yavapai, 17,514 in Coconino, 16,060 in Navajo, 11,832 in Cochise, 11,274 in Apache, 7,898 in Santa Cruz, 6,861 in Gila, 5,535 in Graham, 2,452 in La Paz and 568 in Greenlee, according to state numbers.

The Navajo Nation reported 30,371 cases and 1,262 confirmed deaths in total as of Monday. The Navajo Nation includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.