(AP Photo / Petr David Josek)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for December 27, 2020.
PHOENIX – Health officials in Arizona reported 1,296 new cases of coronavirus and three additional deaths on Sunday.
The state’s documented totals rose to 494,337 COVID-19 infections and 8,427 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services dashboard.
Multiple COVID-19 statistics in Arizona were at or near pandemic highs.
The number of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 hospital patients in Arizona reached 4,190 on Saturday, after dropping from its all-time high of 4,226 on Thursday.
The number of COVID-19 patients in the state’s ICU beds rose to 988, a record a third time in the past four days.
Statewide, suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients occupied 49% of all hospital beds, against a record 50% in the two previous days and 55% of all IC beds.
In total, the hospital beds were 89% filled and the IC beds were 90% filled. The state had 177 unused IC beds on Saturday, 23 more than the previous day.
Arizona’s weekly percent positivity for COVID-19 diagnostic tests, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, was 22% through 87,461 tests for this week. If it stays that way, the record of 21% will be broken from the week of June 28.
Official positivity rates are based on when the samples are taken, not when they are reported, so the rate for the past few weeks may fluctuate as labs are testing and the results are documented by the state.
The seven-day moving average for the health department’s newly reported cases was 6,401.43 for Saturday, according to tracking by The Associated Press.
The seven-day mean of newly reported COVID-19 deaths was 69.57 for Saturday, down for the fourth consecutive day.
The daily update of current case, death and test data after the state receives and confirms statistics, which can delay several days or more. They do not reflect actual activity for the past 24 hours.
The hospital admission data posted each morning is reported electronically 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 severely disabling or fatal to others. Infected people without symptoms – including but not limited to a cough, fever, and difficulty breathing – can spread the virus.
Information on test sites can be found on the website of the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Below are Sunday’s latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic from around the state, country and world:
- The Navajo Nation reported 122 new cases of coronavirus and 10 additional deaths, bringing the documented total to 22,277 infections and 777 fatalities.
- President Donald Trump didn’t seem closer to signing a year-end aid COVID-19 and a spending bill on Sunday as millions lost unemployment aid, the government started toward a mid-pandemic shutdown and lawmakers begged him to take action.
- According to research from Johns Hopkins University, there were approximately 80.45 million COVID-19 cases and 1.75 million deaths on Sunday morning worldwide. The figures for the US were about 18.9 million cases and 331,930 deaths.