Arizona reported 148 new known COVID-19 deaths and 706 new cases on Wednesday, while hospital visits and hospitalizations for the disease continue steadily declining trends.
Inpatient hospitalizations and ICU beds in use appeared above Monday-Tuesday levels, but appear to be continuing steady general downward trends over the past month, according to hospital data reported to the state.
Identified cases increased to 189,443 and known deaths totaled 4,347, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services’ daily report.
The 148 new known deaths reported on Wednesday represent the new deaths identified by the Arizona Department of Health Services that day, but many occurred days and weeks in advance. Most deaths reported in one day so far were 172 new known deaths on July 30; Wednesday is the second highest daily report. In view of recent turnaround times of the test result, new daily reported cases often represent cases that occurred days and weeks in advance.
Wednesday’s dashboard shows 81% of inpatient beds and 80% of ICU beds were in use, which includes people being treated for COVID-19 and other patients. Overall, 35% of fans were in use.
Most people who get the disease are not hospitalized. The state does not report the number of recoveries, although it does report hospital discharges.
For a large part of the pandemic, tests do not keep up with the spread of the virus, but the state has recently worked to extend tests and reduce the turnaround time of results, which could have been up to two weeks or longer for some tests. . Sonora Quest, the state’s largest test processor, reports that it has almost completely eliminated its backlog of tests and returns results within about three days.
The state passed 1 million total diagnostic tests Friday, though tests dropped significantly during July.
Of last week’s known test results, 8% returned positive, according to the state. Johns Hopkins University calculates Arizona’s seven-day moving average of seven days positive at 12.5% and shows that it is down. A high percentage of positive tests means that there are not enough broad tests and the virus is widespread. A positivity rate of 5% is considered a good benchmark that the spread is under control.
Here’s what you need to know about Wednesday’s new numbers.
Reported Cases in Arizona: 189,443
- Cases increased by 706, or 0.37%, from Tuesday’s 188,737 identified cases since the outbreak began.
- County cases: 127,188 in Maricopa, 18,508 in Pima, 11,641 in Yuma, 8,555 in Pinal, 5,408 in Navajo, 5,508 in Mohave, 3,212 in Apache, 3,130 in Coconino, 2,675 in Santa Cruz, 2,065 in Yavapai, 1,732 in Cochise, 976 in Cochise, 976 in Gila, 559 in Graham, 486 in La Paz and 57 in Greenlee, according to state numbers.
- The total case count of the state includes individuals who tested positive on a diagnostic PCR test, as well as individuals who tested positive on an antibody test who had COVID-19 symptoms or were associated with a known case. Of the cases, 99% are individuals with a positive diagnostic test, according to the state Health Department.
- The rate of cases per 100,000 people is the highest in Yuma County, followed by the counties of Santa Cruz County, Navajo and Apache.
- The Navajo Nation reported 9,334 cases and 473 confirmed deaths as of Tuesday. The Navajo Nation includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
- The Arizona Department of Corrections said 1,572 innings as of Tuesday tested positive for COVID-19, including 758 in Tucson; 11,290 prisoners were tested from a population of about 39,000. Eight people who were confirmed confirmed dead of COVID-19, with 14 more dead under investigation.
- While race / ethnicity is unknown for 45% of the cases, 26% of the cases are Hispanic or Latino, 18% of the cases are white, 6% are Indians and 2% are Black.
- Laboratories completed 1,042,838 diagnostic tests for COVID-19, of which 13.9% returned positive. The percentage of positive tests has increased since mid-May, but seems to be declining. It was 8% for tests so far back from last week, and 10% the week before.
Reported deaths: 4,337 known deaths
- On Wednesday, 148 new deaths were reported, although many happened days and weeks earlier.
- County deaths: 2,493 in Maricopa, 505 in Pima, 290 in Yuma, 204 in Navajo, 178 in Mohave, 164 in Pinal, 139 in Apache, 119 in Coconino, 71 in Yavapai, 56 in Cochise, 54 in Santa Cruz, 41 in Gila, 19 in Graham, 12 in La Paz and less than three in Greenlee.
- People aged 65 and over made 3,117 of the 4,347 deaths, or 72%.
- While race / ethnicity for 14% of the dead is unknown, 39% of the people who died were white, 29% were Hispanic or Latino, 11% were Native American and 3% were Black.
Hospitalizations are slowly declining
- Inpatients with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 allowed 1,469 on Tuesday, continuing four weeks of a steady downward trend. Hospitalizations have dropped 1,000 daily since June 1 and have flooded 3,000 daily most of July. Inpatient hospitalizations are gradually declining.
- ICU bed use for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients was at 519 beds on Tuesday, slightly less than 510 beds in use on Monday. Wednesday was the first time since June 23 that ICU beds were in use below 600. Occupied beds have seen a steady decline over the past nearly four weeks, although the last four days appear to be more of a plateau.
- Ventilator use for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients was 328 on Tuesday, about the same level of ventilators in use as mid-June. Fans in use have generally decreased over the last nearly four weeks. On July 16, a record high 687 fans were put into use.
- Emergency department visits for patients with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 were at 927 on Tuesday. Generally, with a few exceptions, daily ER visits appear to be declining. Daily ER visits were 1,000 transferred on June 16 and have been just above this level every day since then. Sunday was the first day since late June that daily ER visits fell below 1,000.
- The number of patients with suspected and confirmed positive COVID-19 discharged from hospitals was 316 patients discharged on Tuesday. July saw relatively high layoffs.
Contact the reporter at [email protected] or at 602-444-4282. Follow her on Twitter @alisteinbach.
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