Ariz. reports 996 additional COVID cases, 68 more deaths

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Health Services on Saturday reported 996 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases with 68 additional deaths, raising the state’s totals to 197,895 cases and 4,756 deaths as reports of infections and deaths continued to slow.

COVID-19-related hospitalization metrics posted on the department’s pandemic dashboard continued to trend downward and were at levels last seen in late May and early June before Arizona became a national hot spot. New case and death reports have dropped since mid-July.

Johns Hopkins University data analyzed by The Associated Press produced seven-day rolling averages of cases and deaths in Arizona that continued to decline over the past two weeks.

The rolling average of new daily cases dropped from 1,578 on Aug. 7 to 740 on Aug. 21. The rolling average of deaths per day dropped from 55 to 38 during the same period.

The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested. Studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick. In other developments,

• A Mohave County official who opposed mass-testing for COVID-19 in the past now wants more testing events in order to help allow reopening of businesses closed under restrictions imposed by Gov. Doug Ducey. Supervisor Hildy Angius suspects that Mohave County’s positivity rate is artificially high because of limited testing and would decrease with more testing of people, The Miner reported.

The closure orders apply to a variety of businesses, including bars, gyms and and movie theaters.

The state’s benchmarks for reopening businesses are keyed to metrics involving rates of testing positivity, hospital visits and case levels by population.