Arizona reports 20 new coronavirus deaths, increasing total to 562

PHOENIX — After two days of single-digit deaths, Arizona reported 20 new coronavirus fatalities on Tuesday morning, pushing the state total to 562.

With 356 new positive tests, Arizona now has reported 11,736 cases of COVID-19.

There have been 122,842 tests given for the virus, an increase of 6,378 from the previous day. The reported percentage of processed tests coming back positive fell to 7.5% from 7.7% in the past day.

The Arizona Department of Health Services has been providing case and testing updates on its website each morning. The dashboard includes, among other information, details about deaths from COVID-19 and hospital capacity plus a ZIP code map of cases.

On Monday morning, the department reported totals of 11,380 cases and 542 deaths with 116,464 tests for the virus given. There were four new deaths in Sunday’s report and six in Monday’s.

The daily reports present data after the state receives statistics and compiles them, which can lag by several days. They aren’t meant to represent the actual activity over the past 24 hours.

The state on Tuesday also reported 2,432 new tests for coronavirus antibodies, which indicate recovery from a past infection, bringing the total to 36,209. Of those, 3.2% have come back positive.

Combining tests for the virus and for antibodies, 159,082 Arizonans have been tested, with a 6.5% positive rate, down from 6.7% Monday.

Arizona’s testing totals have been rising sharply. The state was ranked last in the nation in tests given per capita as recently as May 6, according to Johns Hopkins University, but was ranked 35th (including the District of Columbia) based on data through Monday.

Gov. Doug Ducey’s stay-at-home executive order, which was activated March 31, is set to expire Friday, but he modified it to allow businesses following guidelines to resume certain activity.

Businesses that by nature bring large groups of people together — including bars, gyms, theaters and entertainment centers — must remain closed as long as the order is in effect.

Restaurants, which had been limited to delivery and takeout service for more than a month, got the green light Monday to make dine-in service available with social distancing and other safety measures in place.

Last week, retail stores, hair salons and barbershops following safety guidelines were permitted to reopen their doors.

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 79,756 deaths from more than 1.3 million COVID-19 cases as of Monday’s daily U.S. update.

According to data compiled and regularly updated by Johns Hopkins University, there were more than 4.2 million cases and over 287,000 deaths globally as of Tuesday morning.

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