Arizona releases location, death information on coronavirus cases

PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Health Services on Sunday released enhanced information on confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths throughout the state.

The website where new information has been released daily around 9 a.m. has three new tabs: COVID-19 Deaths in Arizona, COVID-19 Zipcode Map and Hospital COVID-like-illness Surveillance.

The zip code map links out to a map of the state of Arizona with different colors showing the number of positive cases. The colors start at 0 and then go up in increments of 5 before the darker red color equals “greater than 10.” A county with gray means “data suppressed.”

On the map, there are many zip codes in Maricopa and Pima counties with more than 10 coronavirus cases. The northern part of the state also has multiple zip codes with more than 10.

If you hover over a county on the map, it will show the exact number of cases in that zip code area. There’s also a search window to find a specific zip code. If a zip code has between 1-10 COVID-19 positive cases, the dashboard will show a numerical range, either 1-5 or 6-10, rather than an exact case count. This is to keep anonymity within the data and protect the private health information of these patients.

The zip code information includes anyone in that zip code who has tested positive, whether that was months ago or is still active.

On Thursday, Gov. Doug Ducey and Health Director Dr. Cara Christ announced that Arizona’s COVID-19 website would be expanded starting Sunday.

That announcement came two days after Ducey issued an executive order requiring hospitals and health care providers to expand their reports related to coronavirus patients and the capacity to treat them.

It wasn’t long ago that the only coronavirus data reported daily by the state was the total of cases and deaths along with the number of tests given in the state lab, which was just a fraction of the overall testing.

Other than in the early days of the outbreak, private commercial labs have been doing most of the state’s testing, but initially they were just reporting the number of positive results.

On March 23, Ducey issued an executive order requiring private labs to provide more detailed reports.

During a press conference two days later, Christ provided the first estimate of tests given in private commercial labs, which had done around 6,600. The state lab had given fewer than 400 tests at the time.

Then on March 29, the Arizona health department launched an enhanced online COVID-19 dashboard that included additional details about the outbreak, including updated totals of the number of tests given statewide.

Because of a shortage of supplies, health officials have prioritized at-risk populations and people showing serious symptoms for getting tested. In most cases, a positive diagnosis won’t change a patient’s treatment plan.

For most people, coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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