A COVID-19 patient, placed on a ventilator, rests at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif. Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. California health authorities reported Thursday a record two-day total of 1,042 coronavirus deaths as many hospitals strain under unprecedented caseloads. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for Jan 8, 2021.
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials on Friday reported 11,658 new coronavirus cases and 197 additional deaths from COVID-19.
It was the third-largest daily death report, with the top three coming since Tuesday.
The state’s documented totals moved to 596,251 COVID-19 infections and 9,938 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services dashboard.
As of Thursday, Arizona had the second-highest coronavirus case rate, falling behind New Jersey after several days at No. 1, and third-highest death rate per capita nationally in the last seven days, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Arizona’s hospitals continued to see record or near-record numbers of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients.
The number of Arizona’s COVID-19 hospital inpatients dipped to 4,907 on Thursday, 13 below the record set a day earlier and the second-most ever.
The number of COVID-19 patients in the state’s ICU beds rose to a record 1,122, 21 more than the mark set a day earlier.
Statewide, suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients took up a record-tying 57% of all inpatient beds and a record-breaking 63% of all ICU beds.
Overall, inpatient beds and ICU beds were each 93% full, matching the pandemic highs. Only 131 ICU beds were unused.
Arizona’s weekly percent positivity for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, is the highest it’s ever been.
So far this week, 26% of the 70,526 people who were tested got a positive result. The percent positivity was a record 25% last week.
Official positivity rates are based on when the samples are taken, not when they are reported, so the percentage for recent weeks can fluctuate as labs get caught up on testing and the results are documented by the state.
The rolling seven-day average for the health department’s newly reported coronavirus cases was 9,198 for Thursday, the highest ever and the first time above 9,000, according to tracking by The Associated Press.
The seven-day average of newly reported COVID-19 deaths was 125.29 for Thursday, more than 20 higher than the previous day’s record.
The state’s daily updates present case, death and testing data after the state receives statistics and confirms them, which can lag by several days or more. They don’t represent the actual activity over the past 24 hours.
The hospitalization data posted each morning is reported electronically the previous evening by 100 hospitals across the state, as required under executive order.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has no impact on some people and is seriously debilitating or fatal for others. Infected people without symptoms — which include but are not limited to cough, fever and difficulty breathing — are capable of spreading the virus.
Diagnostic testing is available at hundreds of locations across Arizona and should be sought out by anybody with symptoms or who may have been exposed to an infected person. Information about locations, schedules and registration can be found on the Department of Health Services website.
Below are Friday’s latest developments about the coronavirus pandemic from around the state, country and world:
- Globally, there were about 88.2 million COVID-19 cases and 1.9 million deaths as of Friday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University research. The figures for the U.S. were around 21.59 million cases and 365,000 deaths.