(AP Photo / Gerry Broome)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information on the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond on February 7, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials on Sunday reported 1,544 new cases of coronavirus and 37 additional deaths from COVID-19.
The state’s documented totals reached 780,637 infections and 14,048 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services COVID-19 panel.
The virus remains widespread throughout the state, although the increase that made Arizona the nation’s top place of interest last month is slowing.
In Saturday’s update of the United States’ Centers for Disease Control, Arizona remained at No. 5 in the country on average per capita cases in the past seven days. Arizona fell to 5th place in deaths, behind Indiana, Alabama, Iowa and Tennessee.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are now lower than at the July peak of the state’s first wave, but the cases and deaths are even greater.
The number of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 inpatients in Arizona dropped to 2,910 on Saturday, the lowest since December 3. The number of ICU beds used by patients with COVID-19 has dropped to 838, the lowest since December 13.
Across the state, patients with COVID-19 occupied 34% of all hospital beds and 46% of all ICU beds on Saturday. In general, hospital beds were at 90% of capacity and ICU beds at 88%.
Arizona’s weekly positivity percentage for the COVID-19 diagnostic test, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, has declined, but remains at a substantial level.
Of the 83,651 people tested so far this week, 12% have received a positive result. The positive rate recorded last week is 16% for 125,908 people tested, the lowest since before Thanksgiving and the fourth consecutive weekly drop.
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 average for new coronavirus cases reported by the state health department was 3,673.43 on Saturday, according to tracking by The Associated Press, the lowest mark since November 23, but even higher than the July peak of the first wave.
The seven-day average of recent deaths dropped for the second consecutive day on Saturday to 130.43.
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 at 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.
The department also has a vaccine location page with a location map and registration information.
Below are the latest developments on Sunday about the coronavirus pandemic across the state, country and world:
- Globally, there were about 105.87 million cases of COVID-19 and 2.3 million deaths on Sunday morning, according to research by Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the US were about 26.92 million cases and 462,000 deaths.