Volunteers walk like people who have already received vaccines waiting in vehicles at a massive COVID-19 vaccination drive in a Six Flags Magic Mountain parking lot on February 2, 2020 in Valencia, California. The location in one of the top five coronavirus vaccine sites operated by Los Angeles County. (Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information on the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond on February 3, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported on Wednesday 2,296 new cases of coronavirus and 214 additional deaths from COVID-19.
It is the lowest daily case report since December 27 and the third lowest since November. It is also the first time since 16-17 November with less than 3,000 cases reported over two consecutive days.
The state’s documented totals reached 767,379 infections and 13,576 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services panel COVID-19.
Although measurements show that the massive wave in Arizona, which began in November, is subsiding, the virus remains widespread throughout the state.
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 3,456 on Tuesday, the lowest since December 9. The number of ICU beds used by patients with COVID-19 has increased from 11 to 955, the second lowest since December 21.
Across the state, patients with COVID-19 occupied 40% of all hospital beds and 53% of all ICU beds on Tuesday. Overall, hospital beds were at 90% of capacity and ICU beds at 91%.
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 125,134 people tested last week, 16% received a positive result, the lowest rate since before Thanksgiving Day and the fourth consecutive weekly drop.
So far this week, the positive rate recorded is 14% for 12,158 people tested.
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.
In Tuesday’s update of the US Centers for Disease Control, Arizona fell from the first to the third in the country on average cases per capita in the last seven days, behind Texas and South Carolina. Arizona fell from the third to the fourth in deaths, behind Alabama, South Carolina and Iowa.
The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases notified by the state health department was 4,634.29 on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press tracking, the lowest mark since December 3. The seven-day average of newly notified deaths increased for the second consecutive day to 130.57.
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 Wednesday’s latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic across the state, country and world:
- Maricopa County Public Health said some unused coronavirus vaccines were discarded, but only to maintain quality and safety.
- Nothing short of a miracle is how a Valley doctor described the recovery of a COVID-19 patient who spent more than four months in the hospital.
- As demand increased, the city of Phoenix launched its second mobile test unit COVID-19.
- President Joe Biden’s administration announced that it is moving to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines, releasing more doses to states and starting to distribute them to retail pharmacies next week.
- Globally, there were about 103.98 million cases of COVID-19 and 2.26 million deaths on Wednesday morning, according to research by Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the US are around 26.44 million cases and 447,000 deaths.