(Photo from the University of Arizona)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information on the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond on February 18, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona officials on Thursday reported 1,143 new cases of coronavirus and 213 additional deaths from COVID-19.
It was the sixth consecutive day with less than 2,000 new cases, but the highest number of deaths since February 9.
The state’s updated documented totals were 802,198 coronavirus infections and 15,276 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services COVID-19 panel.
After reaching record levels in the first part of January, the numbers of cases and hospitalizations dropped to pre-Thanksgiving levels in Arizona.
The number of confirmed or suspected inpatients with COVID-19 in state hospitals dropped to 1,823 on Wednesday, the lowest since November 18. The number of ICU beds used by patients with COVID-19 has dropped to 566, the lowest since November 27.
Arizona’s weekly positivity percentage for the COVID-19 diagnostic test, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, has been declining since the beginning of the year.
Of the 16,336 people tested so far this week, 10% have received a positive result. The rate was 9%, the lowest in almost four months, for 90,955 people tested last week.
Official positivity rates are based on when samples are collected, 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 1,687.14 on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press tracking, the lowest since November 9.
The seven-day average of recently reported deaths has remained stubbornly high since the beginning of February, but two days of sharp declines took it to 85.86 on Wednesday. This is less than half the pandemic record seen a month ago and, for the first time since January 4, it was less than the July peak of Arizona’s first wave.
In Wednesday’s update to the United States’ Center for Disease Control, Arizona remained third in the country in deaths from COVID-19 per capita in the past seven days, but dropped to 19th in cases.
Daily updates from the Arizona Department of Health present data on cases, deaths and tests 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 hospitals across the state, as required by 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.
For information on vaccine availability across the state, the ADHS website has a vaccine location page with a map of locations and registration information.
Below are Thursday’s latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic across the state, country and world:
- The Navajo Nation reported 43 new cases of coronavirus and 13 additional deaths, bringing the documented total to 29,386 infections – including seven delayed cases – and 1,127 deaths.
- Some, but not all, of Arizona’s climate-delayed COVID-19 vaccine shipments are on their way to the state, officials said.
- US Senator Mark Kelly said KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News to follow up on a request to the federal government for resources to test border migrants for COVID-19.
- According to Arizona’s COVID-19 panel, vaccine administration is on track to fully consume the state’s available supply as early as Friday. But the numbers can be misleading.
- The Arizona Department of Health Services panel reports that 1,339,829 of the state’s 1,395,300 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine allocated were administered, an increase of 48,776 from the previous day’s update. More than 1 million people have received at least one shot in Arizona.
- The University of Arizona’s COVID-19 vaccination site is now officially a state-run operation. The initial round of 12,000 nominations was completed quickly earlier this week.
- Globally, there were about 110.02 million cases of COVID-19 and 2.43 million deaths on Thursday morning, according to research by Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the US were around 27.83 million cases and 490,000 deaths.