Number of positive COVID-19 tests in Arizona surpasses 400
Mar 25, 2020, 9:07 AM | Updated: 11:20 am
(Al Bello/Getty Images)
(Al Bello/Getty Images)
PHOENIX – The number of positive tests for COVID-19 in Arizona eclipsed the 400 mark Wednesday morning, with the Phoenix area adding most of the new cases, including two juveniles.
Of the state’s 75 new cases, which pushed the outbreak total to 401, 52 were in Maricopa County.
The Arizona Department of Health Services has been providing daily case updates on its website each morning.
Maricopa County now has 251 cases, up from 199 the previous day. The county’s health department reported its first two cases in patients ages 17 and under.
Thirty-five Phoenix-area patients have been hospitalized, with 13 in the intensive care unit, and three have died.
On Tuesday morning, the state reported 326 cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus and five deaths. A sixth death was reported by Coconino County officials later in the day. The death toll remained at six Wednesday.
Federal and state officials have been saying that an increased capacity to administer and process tests are producing a sharp increase in the rate of new cases. It’s unclear how much of the increase is due to spread of the virus and how much to the boost in testing.
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Mohave County reported its first positive test late Tuesday night, but that case did not make it into the state’s Wednesday report. It would mean 12 of the state’s 15 counties have reported COVID-19 cases. If one more county is impacted, the state will update its community spread rating from moderate to widespread.
La Paz, Gila and Greenlee remained free of known cases.
Pima County had the second-highest total in Arizona with 49 cases, adding seven from the previous morning. Navajo County was up to 37 cases, Pinal and Coconino 23 each, Apache seven, Yavapai four, Yuma three, Graham two, and Cochise and Santa Cruz one each.
All counties with reported cases must follow Gov. Doug Ducey’s executive order to close bars and ban dine-in service at restaurants. Theaters, gyms, fitness centers and other businesses where crowds gather must also close under the order.
Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 737 deaths from more than 54,000 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday.
According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers, there have been more than 438,000 cases globally, resulting in nearly 20,000 deaths.
