Coronavirus cases in Arizona reach 4,719 with 177 deaths

PHOENIX — Positive coronavirus tests in Arizona reached 4,719, with 177 deaths, the state health department reported Saturday morning.

The number of positive tests for the virus increased by 212 from the Friday report, with eight additional deaths.

There have been 51,045 tests conducted statewide as of the Saturday report, with 8% of those tests coming back positive for the coronavirus.

The Arizona Department of Health Services has been providing daily case and testing updates on its website each morning. The report was recently expanded to include additional details about deaths and hospital capacity plus a ZIP code map of cases. (Check your ZIP code in the chart below.)

The number of cases in Maricopa County, the state’s most-populous and hardest-hit county, increased by 87 to 2,491 on Saturday, according to the state report.

The Phoenix-area death total increased by one to 70.

Maricopa County public health officials on Wednesday said that the hospitalization curve from coronavirus cases has been flattening in the county.

Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, the county’s medical director for public health, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Gaydos and Chad on Friday that Arizona would need to see multiple weeks of decreased hospitalizations for her to feel comfortable about reopening the state.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s stay-at-home order for all Arizona residents to combat the coronavirus runs until at least April 30.

“We just have to take our time so we don’t accidentally pull back too fast and see a rapid increase again,” Sunenshine said.

Coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, 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.

Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 33,049 deaths from more than 661,000 COVID-19 cases as of Friday’s daily U.S. update.

According to data compiled and regularly updated by Johns Hopkins University, there were more than 2.2 million cases and over 156,000 deaths globally as of Saturday morning.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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