Bible-Based Fellowship Church partnered with the Pasco County Health Department and Army National Guard to help residents 65 and older 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 the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for February 17, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona has surpassed 800,000 coronavirus cases and 15,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
State officials reported 1,315 new cases and 82 additional deaths on Wednesday, bringing the documented totals to 801,055 infections and 15,063 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services COVID-19 dashboard.
After a spike in the first half of January, the number of cases and hospital admissions in Arizona have fallen until before Thanksgiving.
The number of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients in state hospitals fell to 1,941 Tuesday, the lowest number since Nov. 21. The number of IC beds used by COVID-19 patients fell to 593, the lowest since November 29.
Arizona’s weekly percent positivity for COVID-19 diagnostic tests, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, has been declining every week since the beginning of the year.
Of the 90,406 people tested last week, 9% got a positive result, the lowest percentage since the end of October. The percentage so far this week was 9% for 7,354 people tested.
Official positivity rates are based on when the samples are taken, not when they are reported, so the rate from the past few weeks may fluctuate as labs are testing and results are documented by the state.
The seven-day mean for the state health department’s newly reported coronavirus cases was 1,781.71 for Tuesday, according to tracking by The Associated Press, the lowest since Nov. 9.
The seven-day average of newly reported deaths had remained stubbornly high since early February, but it took a sharp drop to 99.29 before Tuesday, dropping below 100 for the first time since January 5.
In Tuesday’s update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Arizona was ranked third in the nation for COVID-19 deaths per capita in the past seven days and 11th in cases.
The Arizona Health Department updates current case, death, and testing data daily after the state receives and confirms statistics, which may lag several days or more. They do not reflect actual activity for the past 24 hours.
The hospital admission data posted each morning is electronically reported the night before by 100 hospitals across the state as required under executive order.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, does not affect some people and is seriously disabling or fatal for others. Infected people without symptoms – including but not limited to a cough, fever, and difficulty breathing – can spread the virus.
Diagnostic tests are available at hundreds of locations in Arizona and should be sought by anyone with symptoms or who may have been exposed to an infected person. Information on locations, schedules, and registration can be found on the Department of Health Services website.
For more information on vaccine availability statewide, the ADHS website has a vaccine finder page with a map of locations and registration information.
Below are Wednesday’s latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic from across the state, country and world:
- The Arizona Department of Health Services reported that 1,291,053 of the state’s 1,395,300 allocated COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered, an increase of 63,782 from the previous day. That leaves the state with just 104,247 unused shots until next week’s allocation.
- According to research from Johns Hopkins University, there were approximately 109.61 million COVID-19 cases worldwide and 2.42 million deaths on Wednesday morning. The figures for the US were about 27.76 million cases and 488,000 deaths.