Arizona reports 649 new COVID cases, six deaths.

Arizona reported 649 new COVID-19 cases and six new known deaths on Wednesday as trends hold relatively steady from previous days.

Arizona’s seven-day case rate per 100,000 people ranked 45th on Tuesday 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 state’s seven-day average for new reported COVID-19 cases was 648 on Wednesday. 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 33rd in the nation as of Tuesday, 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 3.1% as of Wednesday. 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 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 235 deaths per 100,000 people as of Tuesday, 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 170 deaths per 100,000 people as of Tuesday, the CDC said.

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

The Arizona data dashboard shows 86% of all ICU beds and 88% of all inpatient beds in the state were in use Tuesday, with 10% of ICU beds and 7% of non-ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. Statewide, 248 ICU beds and 1,005 non-ICU beds were available.

The total number of patients hospitalized in Arizona for known or suspected COVID-19 cases was 584 on Tuesday, up from 562 on Monday 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 169 on Tuesday, up from 155 on Monday and far below the record high of 1,183 on Jan. 11.

Arizonans with confirmed and suspected COVID-19 on ventilators tallied 76 on Tuesday, the same as Monday and well below the record high 821 reached on Jan. 13.

Monday saw 1,015 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.

Reported

855,804.

Cases since the outbreak began increased by 649, or 0.08%, from Tuesday’s 855,155 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: 532,522 in Maricopa, 114,438 in Pima, 50,765 in Pinal, 36,997 in Yuma, 22,474 in Mohave, 18,558 in Yavapai, 17,543 in Coconino, 16,066 in Navajo, 11,841 in Cochise, 11,276 in Apache, 7,904 in Santa Cruz, 6,863 in Gila, 5,536 in Graham, 2,452 in La Paz and 569 in Greenlee, according to state numbers.

The Navajo Nation reported 30,380 cases and 1,262 confirmed deaths in total as of Tuesday. The Navajo Nation includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Deaths by county: 9,788 in Maricopa, 2,388 in Pima, 864 in Pinal, 829 in Yuma, 704 in Mohave, 525 in Navajo, 498 in Yavapai, 424 in Apache, 329 in Coconino, 282 in Cochise, 227 in Gila, 174 in Santa Cruz, 80 in La Paz, 77 in Graham and 10 in Greenlee.

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