A patient with COVID-19, placed on a ventilator, is resting at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange, California. Thursday, January 7, 2021. California health authorities on Thursday reported a record 1,042 coronavirus deaths as many hospitals underwent unprecedented pregnancies. (Photo AP / Jae C. Hong)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and not just for January 8, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported 11,658 new coronavirus cases and 197 additional deaths from COVID-19 on Friday.
It was the third largest daily death toll, with the first three coming on Tuesday.
The state’s documented totals moved to 596,251 COVID-19 infections and 9,938 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services dashboard.
On Thursday, Arizona had the second highest coronavirus rate, behind New Jersey after a few days at No. 1 and the third highest per capita mortality rate nationwide in seven days, according to the US Centers for Disease Control.
Arizona hospitals continued to see a record or near-record number of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients.
The number of hospitalized patients at COVID-19 Hospital in Arizona fell to 4,907 on Thursday, 13 below the record set a day earlier and second in number.
The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICU state beds rose to a record 1,122, 21 more than the mark set a day earlier.
At the national level, patients suspected or confirmed with COVID-19 took a record 57% of all hospital beds and a record 63% of all intensive care beds.
In general, hospital beds and intensive care beds were each 93% full, corresponding to pandemic peaks. Only 131 ICU beds were unused.
Arizona’s weekly positive test for COVID-19, an indicator of how widespread the virus is in the community, is the highest so far.
So far this week, 26% of the 70,526 people tested have tested positive. The percentage of positivity was a record 25% last week.
Official positivity rates are based on the time of sampling, not the time they are reported, so the percentage in recent weeks may fluctuate as laboratories are tested and the results are documented by the state.
The seven-day average continues for recently reported coronavirus cases in the health department was 9,198 on Thursday, the highest ever and for the first time over 9,000, according to a follow-up by The Associated Press.
The seven-day average of deaths recently reported with COVID-19 was 125.29 on Thursday, more than 20 times higher than the previous day’s record.
Daily state updates present case, death, and test data after the state receives and confirms statistics, which may remain for a few days or more. It is not the actual activity of the last 24 hours.
Hospitalization data posted each morning is reported electronically the previous evening 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 and is severely debilitating or fatal to others. Asymptomatic infected people – which include, but are not limited to, cough, fever, and difficulty breathing – are able to spread the virus.
Diagnostic testing is available in hundreds of locations in Arizona and should be looked for by anyone with symptoms or who could have been exposed to an infected person. Information about locations, programs and registration can be found on the website of the Department of Health Services.
Below are the latest developments on Friday about the coronavirus pandemic across the country, country and world:
- Globally, there have been approximately 88.2 million COVID-19 cases and 1.9 million deaths since Friday morning, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the US were about 21.59 million cases and 365,000 deaths.