(Photo by AP / Nardus Engelbrecht)
This is a periodically updated story with the latest information on coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond January 18, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported 5,400 new coronavirus cases on Monday and caused no additional deaths from COVID-19.
The state’s documented total moved to 679,282 COVID-19 infections and 11,265 fatalities after one death was removed due to duplication of data, according to the health department board.
Arizona currently leads the nation in cases and has the second highest number of deaths per capita for COVID-19 in the past seven days, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have begun to decline after rising to record levels early last week.
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 confirmed or presumed from Arizona fell for the sixth consecutive day to 4,752 on Sunday, the lowest since Jan. 3.
Patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 statewide occupied 55% of all hospital beds, the same as on Saturday, and 61% of all ICU beds on Sunday, 1% less than the previous day.
Overall, ICU beds were 93% full, while hospital beds were 92%.
Arizona’s weekly positivity percentage for diagnostic tests for COVID-19, an indicator of how far the virus is spreading in the community, has dropped since it hit an all-time high two weeks ago.
Of the 141,433 people tested last week, 20% got a positive result. The previous week’s positive rate was 22%, below a pandemic high of 24%.
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 state documents the results.
The state health department’s newly reported coronavirus seven-day average was 7,905 on Sunday, and fell for the fifth day in a row, according to The Associated Press.
The average of seven days of deaths reported by COVID-19 recently decreased to 160.71 on Sunday, decreasing by 13 as of Saturday.
Daily status updates present case, death, and evidence data after the state receives and confirms statistics, which can take 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.
Diagnostic tests are available at hundreds of sites across Arizona and should be looked for by anyone with symptoms or who may have been exposed to an infected person. Information on locations, times, and registration can be found on the Department of Health Services website.
The department also has a vaccine search page with a map of active and pending sites and links to registration websites.
Below are Monday’s latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic across the state, the country and the world:
- Globally, there were approximately 95.1 million cases of COVID-19 and 2.03 million deaths as of Monday morning, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. U.S. figures were about 23.9 million cases and 397,611 deaths.