(Photo by AP / Gerry Broome)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and not just for February 7, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported 1,544 new coronavirus cases and 37 additional deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday.
The state’s documented totals have moved to 780,637 infections and 14,048 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard.
The virus remains widespread across the country, although the growth that made Arizona the nation’s hotspot last month is receding.
In Saturday’s update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Arizona ranked 5th in the country in average per capita cases in the past seven days. Arizona dropped to No. 5 in deaths, behind Indiana, Alabama, Iowa and Tennessee.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are now lower than at the peak of the state’s first wave in July, but cases and deaths are even higher.
The number of hospitalized patients confirmed or suspected by Arizona for COVID-19 dropped to 2,910 on Saturday, the lowest since December 3.
At the state level, patients with COVID-19 took over 34% of all beds for inpatients and 46% of all beds for intensive care on Saturday. In general, hospital beds were at 90% capacity and intensive care beds at 88%.
Arizona’s weekly positive test for COVID-19, an indicator of the extent of the virus’s spread in the community, has declined but remains at a substantial level.
Of the 83,651 people tested so far this week, 12% received a positive result. The positive rate recorded for last week is 16% for 125,908 people tested, the lowest before Thanksgiving and the fourth consecutive weekly decline.
Official positivity rates are based on when samples are taken, not when they are reported, so the percentage in recent weeks may fluctuate as labs are tested and the results are documented by the state.
The seven-day average for recently reported health department coronavirus cases was 3,673.43 on Saturday, according to a follow-up by The Associated Press, the lowest mark since Nov. 23, but still higher than the July peak of the first wave. .
The seven-day average of recently reported deaths fell for the second day in a row on Saturday to 130.43.
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 registrations can be found on the website of the Department of Health Services.
The department also has a vaccine search page with a location map and registration information.
Below are the latest developments on Sunday about the coronavirus pandemic across the country, country and world:
- Globally, there have been approximately 105.87 million cases of COVID-19 and 2.3 million deaths since Sunday morning, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the US were about 26.92 million cases and 462,000 deaths.