The Bible Bible Church has partnered with the Pasco County Health Department and the Army National Guard to help residents over the age of 65 administer the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine on February 13, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Octavio Jones / Getty Images)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and not just for February 17, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona has exceeded 800,000 reported cases of coronavirus and 15,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
State officials reported 1,315 new cases and 82 additional deaths on Wednesday, totaling 801,055 infections and 15,063 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard.
After rising in early January, the number of cases and hospitalizations fell to pre-Thanksgiving levels in Arizona.
The number of hospitalized patients confirmed or suspected of COVID-19 in state hospitals fell to 1,941 on Tuesday, at least since November 21.
Arizona’s weekly positive test for COVID-19, an indicator of how widespread the virus is in the community, has been declining every week since the beginning of the year.
Of the 90,406 people tested last week, 9% received a positive result, the lowest rate since the end of October. The rate was 9% for 7,354 people tested so far this 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 recently reported health department coronavirus cases was 1,781.71 on Tuesday, according to a follow-up by The Associated Press, the smallest mark since Nov. 9.
The seven-day average of recently reported deaths remained stubborn since early February, but fell on Tuesday to 99.29 on Tuesday, falling below 100 for the first time since January 5th.
In Tuesday’s update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Arizona ranked third in the country for COVID-19 deaths per capita in the past seven days and 11th 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 vaccine availability at the state level, the ADHS website has a vaccine search page with a map of locations and registration information.
Below are the latest developments on Wednesday about the coronavirus pandemic across the country, country and world:
- The Arizona Department of Health reported that 1,291,053 of the 1,395,300 doses of state-allocated COVID-19 vaccine were administered, up 63,782 from the previous day. This leaves the state with only 104,247 unused photos until next week’s allocation.
- Globally, there have been approximately 109.61 million COVID-19 cases and 2.42 million deaths since Wednesday morning, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the US were about 27.76 million cases and 488,000 deaths.