(Photo by AP / Petr David Josek)
This is a periodically updated story with the latest information on coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond December 27, 2020.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported 1,296 new coronavirus cases and three additional deaths Sunday.
The state’s documented total increased to 494,337 COVID-19 infections and 8,427 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services scorecard.
Several COVID-19 metrics in Arizona have been at or near pandemic highs.
The number of hospitalized patients confirmed or suspected of Arizona’s COVID-19 hospital reached 4,190 on Saturday, after a decrease from the all-time high of 4,226 on Thursday.
The number of COVID-19 patients in state ICU beds increased to 988, setting a record for the third time in the last four days.
Patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 statewide occupied 49% of all hospital beds, compared with 50% of the previous two days and 55% of all ICU beds.
Overall, hospital beds were filled by 89% and ICU beds by 90%. The state had 177 unused ICU beds on Saturday, 23 more than the day before.
Arizona’s weekly positivity rate for COVID-19 diagnostic tests, an indicator of how widespread the virus is to the community, was 22% across 87,461 tests this week. If this is maintained, it will surpass the 21% record from the week beginning June 28th.
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 catch up on testing. and the results are documented by the state.
The seven-day continuous average of recently reported health department cases was 6,401.43 for Saturday, according to The Associated Press.
The average of seven days of deaths for COVID-19 reported recently was 69.57 on Saturday, down for the fourth day in a row.
Daily updates present case, death, and evidence data after the state receives statistics and confirms them, which can be delayed several days or more. They do not represent the actual activity during the last 24 hours.
Hospitalization data released each morning is communicated electronically the night before by 100 hospitals across the state, as required by executive order.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has no impact on some people and is severely debilitating or deadly to others. Asymptomatic infected people, which include, among other things, cough, fever, and difficulty breathing, are able to spread the virus.
Information about test sites can be found on the Arizona Department of Health Services website.
Below are the latest developments on Sunday on the coronavirus pandemic across the state, the country and the world:
- The Navajo nation reported 122 new cases of coronavirus and 10 additional deaths, bringing the documented total to 22,277 infections and 777 deaths.
- President Donald Trump did not seem to be any closer to signing a COVID-19 funding grant and funding spending on Sunday as millions of people lost unemployment benefits, the government stopped at a halt to average pandemic and lawmakers begged him to act.
- Overall, there were approximately 80.45 million cases of COVID-19 and 1.75 million deaths on Sunday morning, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. U.S. figures were about 18.9 million cases and 331,930 deaths.