A doctor cares for a COVID-19 patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Providence St. Mary Medical Center amid a wave of COVID-19 patients in Southern California on December 23, 2020 in Apple Valley, California . (Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for December 24, 2020.
PHOENIX – Health officials in Arizona reported 7,046 new cases of coronavirus and 115 additional deaths on Thursday, as COVID-19 hospital admissions hit new highs.
The state’s documented totals rose to 480,319 COVID-19 infections and 8,294 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services dashboard.
The daily reports present case, death, and test data after the state receives and confirms statistics, which may take several days or more. They do not reflect actual activity for the last 24 hours.
Multiple COVID-19 statistics in Arizona remain at or near pandemic highs.
The number of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 hospital patients in Arizona rose to a record high of 4,221 on Wednesday, the 11th daily record in the past 13 days.
The number of COVID-19 patients in the state’s ICU beds fell to 965, seven below the previous day’s record level and the third highest ever.
Statewide, suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients occupied 50% of all hospital beds, a record high, and 54% of all IC beds.
In total, 92% of the hospital beds were filled and IC beds were a pandemic record at 93% full. The state had 132 unused IC beds, up from a record low of 119 from the previous day.
The hospitalization data posted each morning is reported electronically the night before by 100 hospitals across the state as required under executive order.
Arizona’s weekly positivity rate for COVID-19 diagnostic tests, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, was 23% through 29,603 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 overtaken by testing and results are documented by the state.
The seven-day moving average for the health department’s newly reported cases was 6,293.43 for Wednesday, according to tracking by The Associated Press, up from the previous day, but about 1,500 below the December 14 peak.
The seven-day average of newly reported COVID-19 deaths fell to 92.71 for Wednesday, down from the record high 100.43 recorded Tuesday, but still the third highest on record.
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 testing sites can be found on the Arizona Department of Health Services website.
Below are Thursday’s latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic from around the state, country and world:
- House Republicans shot down a Democratic bid to accept President Donald Trump’s long-running demand at the end of the session for direct payments of $ 2,000 to most Americans as he ponders whether to sign a long-awaited COVID-19 emergency.
- According to research from Johns Hopkins University, there were approximately 78.84 million COVID-19 cases and 1.73 million deaths on Thursday morning worldwide. The figures for the US were about 18.47 million cases and 326,000 deaths.