Arizona reports surge of 446 coronavirus cases with 16 new deaths
Apr 30, 2020, 9:05 AM | Updated: 3:05 pm
Health care professionals prepare to screen people for the coronavirus (COVID-19) at a testing site erected in a parking lot at Mayo Clinic on April 2, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported a surge of 446 positive tests for coronavirus along with 16 new deaths on Thursday morning.
The state totals increased to 7,648 cases of COVID-19 and 320 deaths.
There have been 71,786 tests given in the state, an increase of 2,973 since 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.
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The state reported totals of 7,202 cases, 304 deaths and 68,813 tests given in Wednesday morning’s update.
Eleven of Thursday’s newly reported deaths were in the four counties across Arizona’s norther border, with four in Coconino, three each in Navajo and Mohave and one in Apache.
Maricopa County saw an increase of five deaths for a state-high total of 145.
On Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Doug Ducey announced that his stay-at-home order, which was set to expire Thursday at midnight, was being extended until May 15 with minor modifications.
The announcement came as Arizona moves to ramp up testing for the virus. As part of program called Arizona Testing Blitz, the state and health care partners aim to test 10,000-20,000 residents for COVID-19 over each of the next three Saturdays.
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.
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In most cases, a positive test won’t change a patient’s treatment plan.
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 Arizona, more than 75% of the people who have died of coronavirus are ages 65 and older.
Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 60,057 deaths from more than 1 million COVID-19 cases as of Thursday’s daily U.S. update.
According to data compiled and regularly updated by Johns Hopkins University, there were more than 3.2 million cases and over 232,000 deaths globally as of Thursday afternoon.
