ARCHIVE – In the archive photo of this Monday, January 4, 2021, frozen vials of the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are removed to be thawed at the MontLegia CHC hospital in Liege, Belgium. (AP Photo / Francisco Seco, Archive)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information on the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond on February 25, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona public health officials reported on Thursday 939 new cases of coronavirus, the lowest in a day since November, and 121 additional deaths from COVID-19.
The state’s documented totals have been updated to 812,907 coronavirus infections and 15,814 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services COVID-19 panel.
The last time the daily update had fewer than 1,000 new cases was when 820 were reported on November 30, 2020.
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 1,385 on Wednesday, the lowest since November 12. The number of ICU beds used by patients with COVID-19 has dropped to 415, the lowest since November 17.
Arizona’s weekly percentage of positivity 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 22,942 people tested last week, 8% tested positive, which would be the lowest mark since October. The percentage of positivity was 9% in each of the previous two weeks.
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 coronavirus cases recently reported by the state health department stabilized last week and was 1,559 on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press tracking.
The seven-day average of deaths recently reported was 105.5 on Wednesday.
In Wednesday’s update to the United States’ Center for Disease Control, Arizona was the second country in COVID-19 deaths per capita in the past seven days and the 14th in cases. Arizona led the United States in both categories in January.
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 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.
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 45 new cases of coronavirus and nine additional deaths, bringing the documented totals to 29,655 infections – including eight cases reported late – and 1,161 deaths.
- The Arizona Department of Health Services reported that 1,603,558 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the state, an increase of 50,647 daily, with 1,137,507 people having received at least one injection.
- Globally, there were about 112.67 million cases of COVID-19 and 2.5 million deaths on Thursday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University research. The figures for the US are around 28.34 million cases and 506,000 deaths.