Wake County Health Department workers, along with nurses and volunteers from area hospitals and emergency services, are attending a COVID-19 vaccination event at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC, Thursday, February 11, 2021. Two months later after the first COVID 19 photos were taken, the race to vaccinate older Americans is gaining ground, with more than half of the states reporting that a third of people aged 65 and over received their first dose. (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 12, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported 2,426 new coronavirus cases and 172 additional deaths from COVID-19 on Friday.
The state’s documented totals have moved to 793,532 infections and 14,834 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services’ COVID-19 dashboard.
The virus remains widespread across the country, although the growth that made Arizona the nation’s hotspot last month is receding, reflecting a nationwide trend.
COVID-19 hospitalizations and daily case averages are now lower than at the peak of the state’s first wave in July, but the death rate remains higher.
The number of hospitalized patients confirmed or suspected by Arizona for COVID-19 fell to 2,396 on Thursday, the lowest since November 27. The number of ICU beds used by COVID-19 patients has dropped to 705, the lowest since December 4.
Nationally, patients with COVID-19 received 28% of all inpatient beds on Thursday and 39% of all intensive care beds. In general, hospital beds were at 90% capacity and intensive care beds at 87%.
Arizona’s weekly positivity test for the diagnosis of COVID-19, an indicator of how widespread the virus is in the community, has fallen each week since reaching a high of 24% for the week beginning December 27.
Of the 40,925 people tested so far this week, 9% received a positive result. The percentage of positivity was 12% for 109,361 people tested 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 for the Department of Health’s recently reported coronavirus cases was 2,758.57 for Thursday, according to a follow-up by The Associated Press, the second lowest point since Nov. 18.
The seven-day average of recently reported deaths hasn’t changed much since early February and was 130 by Thursday.
In Thursday’s update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Arizona ranked fourth in the country for COVID-19 deaths per capita in the past seven days and seventh in cases.
Daily updates from the Arizona Department of Health present case, death, and test data after the state receives statistics and confirms them, which can 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 may 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 more information on the national availability of vaccines, the ADHS website has a vaccine search page with a map of locations and registration information.
Below are the latest developments on Friday about the coronavirus pandemic across the country, country and world:
- The Navajo nation reported 66 new cases of coronavirus and 6 additional deaths, bringing the documented total to 29,167 infections – including three delayed cases – and 1,103 deaths.
- The Phoenix Union High School District has said its winter sports season, precautionarily delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been canceled.
- U.S. Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona does not believe a provision to raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 belongs to the next COVID aid package.
- The Arizona Department of Health reported that 1,096,126 of the COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated to the state were administered, an increase of more than 50,000 from the previous day.
- A professor at Arizona State University says smokers are at increased risk for more serious effects of COVID-19 due to damage already caused to the lungs due to smoking.
- President Joe Biden said the United States would have enough supplies of COVID-19 by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans.
- Globally, there have been approximately 107.9 million COVID-19 cases and 2.37 million deaths since Friday morning, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the US were about 27.39 million cases and 475,000 deaths.