Decline of COVID-19 spread, hospitalizations continues

Arizona reported 996 new COVID-19 cases and 68 new known deaths on Saturday, continuing downward trends for the virus’ spread and hospitalizations.

Identified cases rose to 197,895 and known deaths totaled 4,756, according to the daily report by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Friday’s dashboard shows 83% of inpatient beds and 78% of ICU beds in use, which includes people being treated for COVID-19 and other patients. COVID-19 patients are using 13% of all inpatient beds and 22% of ICU beds. Overall, 30% of ventilators were in use.

Most people who get the disease are not hospitalized. The state does not report the number of recovered cases, although it does report hospital discharges. Here’s more to know:

County cases: 131,685 in Maricopa, 20,446 in Pima, 12,043 in Yuma, 9,149 in Pinal, 5,500 in Navajo, 3,484 in Mohave, 3,301 in Apache, 3,236 in Coconino, 2,735 in Santa Cruz, 2,235 in Yavapai, 1,791 in Cochise, 1,074 in Gila, 664 in Graham, 495 in La Paz and 57 in Greenlee, according to state numbers.

The Navajo Nation reported 9,500 cases and 484 confirmed deaths as of Wednesday. The Navajo Nation includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

County deaths: 2,776 in Maricopa, 551 in Pima, 304 in Yuma, 216 in Navajo, 194 in Mohave, 177 in Pinal, 148 in Apache, 122 in Coconino, 76 in Yavapai, 56 in Cochise, 55 in Santa Cruz, 43 in Gila, 22 in Graham, 14 in La Paz and fewer than three in Greenlee.