ARIZONA NEWS
Arizona crosses 7,000-case, 300-death marks for coronavirus outbreak
PHOENIX — Arizona has surpassed the 7,000-case and 300-death marks for the coronavirus outbreak, the state department of health announced Wednesday morning.
The state reported 11 new deaths, increasing the total to 304, and 254 additional positive tests, pushing the case total to 7,202.
There have been 68,813 tests given in the state, an increase of 1,375 from the previous report.
The Arizona Department of Health Services has been providing case and testing updates on its website each morning. The daily report includes details about deaths and hospital capacity plus a ZIP code map of cases.
The state reported totals of 6,948 cases and 293 deaths on Tuesday morning, with 67,438 tests given.
Earlier this week, the state announced plans to increase testing for the virus in the coming weeks. Because of supply shortages, tests had previously been limited mostly to health care workers, first responders, people in high-risk populations and patients showing serious symptoms.
The push to boost testing comes with Gov. Doug Ducey’s stay-at-home order, which went into effect March 31, set to end at midnight Thursday.
Ducey is expected to announce Wednesday afternoon whether he will extend or modify the order or let it expire.
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.
In most cases, a positive test won’t change a patient’s treatment plan.
Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 55,258 deaths from more than 981,000 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday’s daily U.S. update.
According to data compiled and regularly updated by Johns Hopkins University, there were more than 3.1 million cases and over 218,000 deaths globally as of Wednesday morning.
