(AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information on the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for January 2, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported 8,883 new cases of coronavirus and 46 additional deaths on Saturday.
Saturday’s figures bring the state’s documented totals to 539,150 COVID-19 infections and 9,061 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services panel.
And as was the case throughout December, several COVID-19 metrics in Arizona are at or near pandemic levels.
The number of patients admitted to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 hospitals in Arizona dropped to 4,484 on Friday, from 4,501 on Thursday.
The number of COVID-19 patients in the state’s ICU beds rose to 1,074 on Friday.
Suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients across the state occupied 52% of all hospital beds, linking the registry, and 61% of all ICU beds.
In general, the hospitalization beds and the ICU beds were, each, 93% occupied. The remaining 132 ICU beds were the fifth smallest in the pandemic.
The rising tide of patients with COVID-19 is squeezing the space left for other patients in Arizona hospitals. Banner Health, the state’s largest hospital system, said on Wednesday that it will halt all elective surgery in Arizona from Friday in response to the deluge of patients with COVID-19.
Arizona’s weekly positivity percentage for the COVID-19 diagnostic test, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, is at a record pace.
The percentage of positivity was 25% through 94,119 tests processed this week. If that remains the case, it will surpass last week’s record 21% mark.
Official positivity rates are based on when samples are taken, not when they are reported, so the percentage of the past few weeks may fluctuate as laboratories update tests and results are documented by the state.
The seven-day moving average for cases recently reported by the health department has been on a downward trend since its peak two weeks ago and was at 6,190.29 on Friday, according to The Associated Press.
The seven-day average of COVID-19 deaths recently reported has risen this week to 86.57 on Friday, the highest level since Christmas Eve.
Daily state updates show case, death, and test data after the state receives the statistics and confirms them, which can take several days or more. They do not represent actual activity in the past 24 hours.
Hospitalization data published every morning is reported electronically the night before by 100 hospitals across the state, as required by the executive order.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has no impact on some people and is severely debilitating or fatal for others. Infected people without symptoms – which include, but are not limited to, cough, fever and difficulty breathing – are able to spread the virus.
The diagnostic test is available in hundreds of locations across Arizona and should be sought out by anyone with symptoms or who may have been exposed to an infected person. Information on locations, times and registration can be found on the Department of Health Services website.
Below are Saturday’s latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic across the state, country and world:
- Globally, there were about 84.084 million cases of COVID-19 and 1.829 million deaths on Saturday morning, according to research by Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the US are around 20.138 million cases and 347,844 deaths.