(Photo AP / Bernat Armangue)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and not just for February 6, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported 3,471 new coronavirus cases and 63 additional deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday.
The state’s documented totals moved to 779,093 infections and 14,011 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 Friday’s update from the US Centers for Disease Control, Arizona dropped to 5th in the country, with average cases per capita in the last seven days. Arizona ranked fourth among the dead, behind Indiana, Alabama and Iowa.
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 of COVID-19 in Arizona fell to 3,060 on Friday, the lowest since December 6. The number of ICU beds used by COVID-19 patients fell to 849, the lowest since December 13.
At the national level, patients with COVID-19 took over on Wednesday 35% of all beds for inpatients and 47% of all beds for intensive care. In general, hospital beds were at 90% capacity and intensive care beds at 88%.
The weekly positive percentage in Arizona for testing for the diagnosis of COVID-19, an indicator of how widespread the virus is in the community, has declined, but remains at a substantial level.
Of the 62,465 people tested so far this week, 13% 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 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 recently reported health department coronavirus cases was 3,826 for Friday, according to a follow-up by The Associated Press, the lowest mark since Nov. 30, but still higher than the July peak of the first wave.
The seven-day average of newly reported deaths fell after rising four consecutive days on Friday to 132.29.
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 displayed each morning is electronically reported in the previous evening by 100 hospitals across the country, 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.
The department also has a vaccine search page with a location map and registration information.
Below are the latest developments on Saturday about the coronavirus pandemic across the country, country and world:
- Globally, there have been approximately 105.49 million cases of COVID-19 and 2.3 million deaths since Saturday morning, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the US were about 26.81 million cases and 459,617 deaths.