(AP Photo / Jean-Francois Badias)
This is a regularly updated story with the latest information, news, and updates about the Coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for Sunday, October 4.
Phoenix – Arizona health authorities reported 355 new cases of coronavirus and one death Sunday morning.
That puts the state’s documented totals at 220,754 COVID-19 cases and 5706 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Multiple key metrics for the severity of the Arizona pandemic are near their lowest in months.
The number of hospitalized patients in confirmed or suspected Arizona hospitals decreased to 545 on Saturday, down 60 from 605 on Friday.
The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care beds reached 133 on Saturday, the most since September 17 but not much higher than the epidemic’s low mark of 114.
The number of COVID-19 patients reached a peak of 3,517 on July 13, and COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit beds exceeded 970 on the same day.
Arizona’s weekly percentage of diagnostic testing for COVID-19 accelerates to 4% for the fifth week in a row, with 45,369 tests recorded so far this week.
The positivity rate, an indicator of how far the virus has spread in the community, was high by 20% at the end of June.
Weekly rates depend on the time of sampling, not the time of reporting them, so the percentage of recent weeks can fluctuate as laboratories are busy testing and results are documented by the state.
Arizona Department of Health the daily reports Current status, death and test data after the country receives and confirms the statistics, which can be delayed by several days or more. They do not represent actual activity in the past 24 hours.
However, hospitalization data published every morning are reported the night before by the hospitals.
The seven-day rolling average of newly reported cases by the state health department was 510.43 through Saturday, according to Trace By The Associated Press, and has been relatively stable over the past week.
The average newly reported death in seven days was 11.86 through Saturday, the third time under 17 years since June 10.
The average case in seven days peaked at 3,844 cases on July 6, and the death rate topped 94 cases on July 30.
As the number of cases soared in June, local governments in many parts of Arizona – including all of Maricopa County – implemented face mask requirements, and Governor Doug Douce issued statewide executive orders to shut down some businesses and restrict restaurant occupancy.
Soon, the spread of COVID-19 has slowed and has declined steadily since the height of the epidemic. A large portion of the state has met standards set by the Department of Health that allow some companies to reopen under capacity restrictions and other regulations.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has no effect on some people and is seriously debilitating or fatal for others. Infected without Symptoms – which includes but are not limited to coughing, fever and difficulty breathing – able to spread the virus.
“Food expert. Unapologetic bacon maven. Beer enthusiast. Pop cultureaholic. General travel scholar. Total internet buff.”
