Dr. Gabriele Zanolini, director of the main covide ward at Mellino Mellini Hospital, is caring for a patient in the emergency situation COVID-19 in Chiari, northern Italy, on Monday, March 8, 2021. The 160-bed hospital in the town of Chiari in The Po River Valley no longer has beds for patients affected by the highly contagious version of COVID-19 first identified in the UK and which has now alerted hospitals in northern Italy in the province of Brescia. (Photo AP / Luca Bruno)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and not just for March 9, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona public health officials reported Tuesday that there were no new coronavirus deaths for the second day in a row, the first time since Oct. 11-12.
The number of cases recently reported by COVID-19 was 563, the lowest daily update since November 9 and for the first time was below 1,000 in the back-to-back days of an October 21-24 stretch.
The state’s documented totals have been updated to 827,800 coronavirus infections and 16,326 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard.
The total number of deaths has actually decreased by two due to the matching of death certificates, said the department.
The key measures used to assess the severity of the pandemic in the state are the lowest in recent months.
The number of hospitalized patients confirmed or suspected of COVID-19 in state hospitals increased overnight by six to 925 months, the second lowest since November 1. The number of ICU beds used by COVID-19 patients has dropped to 255, the lowest since November 6.
Arizona’s weekly positive test for COVID-19, an indicator of how widespread the virus is in the community, is at a five-month low.
Of the 75,656 people tested last week, 5% received a positive result, the lowest positive percentage since the beginning of October. The rate of 2,324 people this week was 7%.
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 Arizona Department of Health’s daily 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 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.
For details on the availability of COVID-19 vaccine nationwide, the ADHS website has a vaccine search page with a map of locations and information on registration and eligibility.
Below are the latest developments on Tuesday about the coronavirus pandemic across the country, country and world:
- Maricopa County is allocating its first batch of approximately 34,000 single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines to essential workers in the Phoenix area.
- The Navajo nation reported 12 new cases of coronavirus and 14 additional deaths, bringing the documented totals to 29,887 infections – including two cases reported late – and 1,204 deaths.
- The Arizona Department of Health reported that 2,197,376 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the state, an increase of 46,480 days per day, with 1,412,740 people (19.7% of the state’s population) who they received at least one blow.
- Visits to Grand Canyon National Park fell by millions last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The State Department of Health has launched a program to vaccinate disadvantaged populations against COVID-19.
- Globally, there have been approximately 117.27 million COVID-19 cases and 2.6 million deaths since Tuesday morning, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the US were around 29.05 million cases and 526,000 deaths.