State adds 3,691 COVID-19 cases, 63 deaths
COVID-19 continues to impact Arizonans with significant numbers of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths reported over the last week.
On Friday, the state reported 3,691 new COVID-19 cases and 63 new known deaths.
Hospitalizations have declined slightly from the September peak, but still remain somewhat high. There were 1,718 patients hospitalized across Arizona for known or suspected COVID-19 on Thursday.
Nearly 18% of reported COVID-19 cases in Arizona in September were breakthrough infections among people fully vaccinated, according to state health officials, who say the vaccine remains the best way to prevent severe illness and death. Still the vast majority of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are in people not fully vaccinated.
As of Oct. 4, preliminary data showed there had been 238 known breakthrough deaths in the state, officials said.
Previous days this week saw the following new case reports: 3,145 on Oct. 23; 1,483 on Oct. 24; 158 on Oct. 25; 450 on Oct. 26; 6,299 on Oct. 27; and 2,795 on Oct. 28.
Death reports for the past week were: 30 on Oct. 23; 11 on Oct. 24; -1 on Oct. 25; 102 on Oct. 26; 81 on Oct. 27; and -11 on Oct. 28.
A data-processing problem affected additions to the dashboard this week, resulting in two days of limited reporting and then a higher than ordinary case report on Oct. 27, according to state health officials. The -11 death number on Oct. 28 was because of a “low number of additions and routine data cleaning,” per the state.
The Arizona Republic generally recaps the state’s daily numbers online in a COVID-19 updates blog and in a weekly recap story online on Thursdays or Fridays and in the newspaper on Sundays.
Arizona’s seven-day case rate per 100,000 people ranked 17th Thursday among all states and territories after ranking first and second for much of January and then lower since, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 Data Tracker.
Arizona’s seven-day case rate per 100,000 people ranked 51st among 60 states and territories on March 28, but its rank has fluctuated. Last week, it ranked 24th.
The state’s seven-day average for new reported COVID-19 cases was at 2,574 on Friday. 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 11th in the nation out of all states and territories as of Thursday, according to the CDC.
Percent positivity, which refers to the percentage of COVID-19 diagnostic tests that are positive, varies somewhat based on how it’s measured. It’s been higher in recent weeks, a sign of more community spread.
For most of May and June, Arizona’s percent positivity for COVID-19 testing was at 4-5%, before rising over the course of July and August. It was 10% for the week of Sept. 5 and 9% for each week after through the week of Oct. 10. It was 10% for the week of Oct. 17 and is at 10% so far for the week of Oct. 24. The percentages are now for all diagnostic tests conducted, rather than for unique individuals tested, following a change to the state dashboard.
Johns Hopkins University calculates Arizona’s seven-day moving average of percent positives at 6.6% as of Friday. 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 disease’s spread is under control.
The state’s overall 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 289 deaths per 100,000 people as of Thursday, 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 223 deaths per 100,000 people as of Thursday, according to the CDC.
New York City has the highest death rate, at 411 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by Mississippi, Alabama, New Jersey and Louisiana.
Arizona’s case rate per 100,000 people since the pandemic began ranked 18th nationwide as of Thursday.
Arizona’s known COVID-19 death count was at 21,096 after 63 new known deaths were reported on Friday.
The state surpassed 21,000 known deaths on Oct. 27 after passing 20,000 deaths on Oct. 1, 19,000 deaths on Aug. 31, 18,000 deaths on July 6, 17,000 deaths on April 7, 16,000 deaths on March 2,15,000 deaths on Feb. 17, 14,000 deaths on Feb. 6 and 13,000 deaths on Jan. 29, just one week after it passed 12,000 and two weeks after 11,000 deaths. The state exceeded 10,000 known deaths on Jan. 9. Arizona’s first known death from the disease occurred in mid-March 2020.
Many of the reported deaths occurred days or weeks prior because of reporting delays and death certificate matching.
A total of 1,163,217 COVID-19 cases have been identified across the state. March, April, May and June saw relatively lower case reports.
Hospitalizations continue plateau
The Arizona data dashboard shows 92% of all ICU beds and 92% of all inpatient beds in the state were in use on Thursday, with 26% of ICU beds and 20% of non-ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. Statewide, 149 ICU beds and 684 non-ICU beds were available.
The number of patients hospitalized in Arizona for known or suspected COVID-19 cases was at 1,718 on Thursday, continuing a drop and then plateau from the recent peak. Last week that number was also at 1,718 and two weeks ago was at 1,663. The record was 5,082 inpatients on Jan. 11. The highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in a single day during the summer 2020 surge was 3,517 on July 13.
The number of patients with suspected or known COVID-19 in ICUs across Arizona has also been dropping and plateauing, and was at 463 on Thursday, compared with 485 a week earlier, still far below the record high of 1,183 on Jan. 11. During the summer surge in mid-July 2020, ICU beds in use for COVID-19 peaked at 970.
Arizonans with confirmed and suspected COVID-19 on ventilators tallied 272 on Thursday. The record-high 821 was reached on Jan. 13. During the summer 2020 surge, July 16 was the peak day for ventilator use, with 687 patients.
Thursday saw 1,429 patients in Arizona emergency rooms for COVID-19, below the Dec. 29 single-day record of 2,341 positive or suspected COVID-19 patients seen in emergency departments across the state.
Vaccination update
Arizona began its first COVID-19 vaccinations for health care workers, longterm care facilities and front-line first responders in mid-December. The state shifted largely to an age-based rollout in early March and in late March began allowing anyone 16 and older to start registering for appointments. Arizonans ages 12 and older are eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine, while the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved for those 18 and older.
The state reported more than 4.2 million people in Arizona — about 59% of the total state population — had received at least one vaccine dose as of Friday, with more than 3.6 million residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The state’s data dashboard now separates out doses administered to Arizona residents versus all doses administered in the state.
Arizona’s rate of fully vaccinated people out of the total population is 52.9%, which is behind the national rate of 57.6%, according to the CDC as of Thursday.
Out of the total population that’s eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, those ages 12 and older, 62.1% of those eligible in Arizona are fully vaccinated compared with 67.4% at the national level, CDC data shows.