Community paramedic Karin Casciano evaluates an 83-year-old patient during a home wellness check on December 23, 2020 in White Plains, New York. The patient, a former U.S. sailor, said the Christmas stockings were for his adult children, though he will not see them this Christmas because of the pandemic. (Photo by John Moore / Getty Images)
This is a periodically updated story with the latest information on coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond December 25, 2020.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported 6,616 new cases of coronavirus and an additional 115 deaths on Christmas Day, while a record number of COVID-19 patients spend the holidays in hospital.
The state’s documented total increased to 486,935 COVID-19 infections and 8,409 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services board.
Several COVID-19 metrics in Arizona have been at or near pandemic highs.
The number of patients hospitalized at COVID-19 Hospital confirmed or suspected in Arizona rose to an all-time high of 4,226 on Thursday, the 12th daily record in 14 days.
The number of patients with COVID-19 in state ICU beds rose to 976, setting a record for the second time in the last three days.
Patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 across the state occupied 50% of all hospital beds, setting the record set the day before and 55% of all ICU beds.
Overall, inpatient beds were 91% filled and ICU beds had a pandemic record of 93%. The state had 131 unused beds on Thursday, one less than the day before.
Arizona’s weekly positivity percentage for diagnostic tests for COVID-19, an indicator of how widespread the virus is to the community, was 23% across 51,929 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 state documents the results.
The seven-day average of new health department cases was 6,469 for Thursday, according to a follow-up to The Associated Press, the highest it has been this week.
The seven-day average of recently reported COVID-19 deaths was 88.14 on Thursday, which declined for the second day in a row, but still the fifth highest in history.
Daily updates present case, death, and evidence data after the state receives and confirms statistics, which can be delayed for 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 Friday’s latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic across the state, country and world:
- After throwing a grenade that threatens to blow up a big relief from COVID and a government funding law, President Donald Trump spent Christmas night playing golf in Florida.
- Globally, there were about 79.25 million cases of COVID-19 and 1.74 million deaths as of Friday morning, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. U.S. figures were about 18.66 million cases and 329,000 dead.