Arizona adds 3,322 new COVID-19 cases, 4 deaths

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continued their general upward trend in Arizona throughout Thanksgiving week, according to state data released on Friday.

On Friday, the state reported 3,322 new COVID-19 cases and four new known deaths.

Hospitalizations have risen significantly over the last several weeks, with 2,500 patients hospitalized Thursday across Arizona for known or suspected COVID-19.

About 22% of reported COVID-19 cases in Arizona in October were breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated people, 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 among people not fully vaccinated.

As of Oct. 18, the breakthrough fatality rate in Arizona was less than 0.01%, state data shows.

Maricopa County health officials found from some of their October data that unvaccinated individuals in the county were 31⁄2 times more likely to get a COVID-19 infection than fully vaccinated individuals. And those not fully vaccinated were about five times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than fully vaccinated individuals, per health officials.

Previous days this week saw the following new case reports: 3,985 on Nov. 20; 3,629 on Nov. 21; 3,249 on Nov. 22; 3,057 on Nov. 23; 4,064 on Nov. 24; and 3,349 on Nov. 25.

Death reports for the past week were: 51 on Nov. 20; one on Nov. 21; two on Nov. 22; 120 on Nov. 23; 36 on Nov. 24; and 75 on Nov. 25.

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 9th as of Wednesday 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 12th.

The state’s seven-day average for new reported COVID-19 cases was at 3,522 on Friday, compared with 3,685 a week ago and 3,495 two weeks ago. 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 5th in the nation out of all states and territories as of Wednesday, 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. 17. It was 10% for the week of Oct. 24, 11% for the week of Oct. 31 and 12% for the week of Nov. 7. It’s at 13% so far for the week of Nov. 21. 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 11.5% 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 303 deaths per 100,000 people as of Wednesday, 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 233 deaths per 100,000 people as of Thursday, according to the CDC.

New York City has the highest death rate, at 414 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 15th nationwide as of Wednesday.

Arizona’s known COVID-19 death count was at 22,177 after four new known deaths were reported on Friday.

The state surpassed 22,000 known deaths on Nov. 24 after passing 21,000 known deaths on Oct. 27, 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.

A total of 1,258,919 COVID-19 cases have been identified across the state.