2,988 new COVID cases, 6 deaths in state
Arizona reported 2,988 new COVID-19 cases and six new known deaths on Friday, continuing an upward trend of case reports and hospitalizations for the disease.
The state late last month passed the milestone of more than 1 million known cases of COVID-19 reported in Arizona since the pandemic began. Cases have recently been on the rise as the highly contagious delta variant has helped drive up infections statewide and across the country.
Hospitalizations have been on the uptick in recent weeks, with 2,039 patients hospitalized across Arizona for known or suspected COVID-19 on Thursday. There were 2,090 hospitalizations on Tuesday, which marked the highest number since mid-February.
Previous days this week saw the following new case reports: 3,424 on Sept. 4; 3,071 on Sept. 5; 2,378 on Sept. 6; 1,982 on Sept. 7; 2,222 on Sept. 8; and 2,480 on Sept. 9.
Death reports for the past week were: 38 on Sept. 4; one on Sept. 5; one on Sept. 6; 54 on Sept. 7; 26 on Sept. 8; and 62 on Sept. 9.
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 28th 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 27th.
The state's seven-day average for new reported COVID-19 cases was at 2,649 on Friday, compared with 3,152 one week earlier and 3,184 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 17th 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 increasing in recent weeks, a sign of more community spread.
For most of May and June, Arizona's percent positivity was at 5% but increased to 6% for the weeks of June 20 and June 27 and 9% for the week of July 4, according to the state, which has a unique way of calculating percent positivity. It was 12% for the week of July 11; 13% for the week of July 18; 14% for the
week of July 25; 14% for the week of Aug. 1; 12% for the week of Aug. 8; 11% for the week of Aug. 15; 11% for the week of Aug. 22; 12% for the week of Aug. 29 and 13% so far for the week of Sept. 5. Weekly percent positivity statewide peaked at 25% in December.
Johns Hopkins University calculates Arizona's seven-day moving average of percent positives at 8.8% 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 262 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 196 deaths per 100,000 people as of Thursday, according to the CDC.
New York City has the highest death rate, at 404 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by New Jersey, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Massachusetts.
Arizona's case rate per 100,000 people since the pandemic began ranked 13th nationwide as of Thursday.
Arizona's known COVID-19 death count was at 19,147 after six new known deaths were reported on Friday.
The state surpassed 19,000 deaths on Aug. 31 after passing 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 1,042,480 COVID-19 cases have been identified across the state. March, April, May and June saw relatively lower case reports.
Hospitalization numbers remain high
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 32% of ICU beds and 23% of non-ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. Statewide, 137 ICU beds and 683 non-ICU beds were available.
The number of patients hospitalized in Arizona for known or suspected COVID-19 cases was at 2,039 on Thursday, which continues a trend of high hospitalization rates in recent weeks but remains far below the record 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 been trending up and reached 559 on Thursday, which is still far below the record high of 1,183 on Jan. 11. During the summer surge in midJuly 2020, ICU beds in use for COVID-19 peaked at 970.
Arizonans with confirmed and suspected COVID-19 on ventilators tallied 364 on Thursday, higher than last week but well below the record high 821 reached on Jan. 13. During the summer 2020 surge, July 16 was the peak day for ventilator use, with 687 patients.
Thursday saw 1,668 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 million people in Arizona — about 56.6% of the total state population — had received at least one vaccine dose as of Friday, with more than 3.5 million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Arizona's rate of fully vaccinated people out of the total population is 49.9%, which is behind the national rate of 53.4%, according to the CDC as of Thursday.