Arizona reports 600 new coronavirus cases, 4 more deaths

This is a regularly updated story with the latest information, news and updates about the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for Monday, Aug. 10.

PHOENIX – Arizona health authorities reported 600 new coronavirus cases and four additional deaths on Monday morning as the state’s numbers continue trending downward.

That brought the state’s documented totals to 187,523 COVID-19 infections and 4,154 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Multiple key metrics about the severity of Arizona’s pandemic, including coronavirus-related hospitalizations, are at or near the lowest they’ve been in a month or more.

The rolling seven-day average for newly reported cases was 1,208 on Sunday, the lowest since June 10, according to tracking by The Associated Press.

The seven-day average of newly reported deaths was 55, up a tick from the previous day but near the lowest it’s been in the past month.

The spread of coronavirus in Arizona has been slowing in the weeks after the implementation of face mask requirements by local governments in many areas — including all of Maricopa County — and statewide executive orders to close businesses such as bars and gyms and to restrict restaurant occupancy.

Those moves were made after the state became a global hot spot for the coronavirus, which has no impact on some people and is seriously debilitating or fatal for others. Infected people without symptoms – which include but are not limited to cough, fever and difficulty breathing — are capable of spreading the virus.

Arizona’s weekly positive rate for diagnostic PCR tests, which shows how much the virus is spreading, has been falling for five consecutive weeks and was at 9% for the 43,307 samples taken last week that have been processed.

Weekly rates are based on when the samples are taken, not when they are reported, so the percentage for recent weeks can fluctuate as labs get caught up on testing backlogs.

The Arizona health department’s daily reports present case, death and testing data after the state receives statistics and confirms them, which can lag by several days or more. They don’t represent the actual activity over the past 24 hours.

The hospital data posted each morning, however, is reported the previous evening by the hospitals and shows coronavirus-related hospitalizations trending down for the past month.

The number of Arizona’s confirmed or suspected COVID-19 inpatients fell to 1,575 on Sunday, the fewest since June 16.

The number of COVID-19 patients in ICU beds fell to 506, the fewest since June 15.

COVID-19 inpatients peaked at 3,517 on July 13, and COVID-19 patients in ICU beds topped out at 970 the same day.

Overall, Arizona inpatient and ICU bed usage rates remained several percentage points below the high marks seen a month ago.

Inpatient beds were 80% full on Sunday, the lowest since June 8. The inpatient occupancy rate peaked at 88% on July 9-10.

The ICU occupancy rate fell to 81%, the lowest since June 15. It topped out at 91% on July 7.

Hospital bed data on the health department website does not include surge beds that have not been activated but can potentially increase capacity.

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Below are Monday’s latest developments about the coronavirus pandemic from around the state, country and world:

• Dozens of state and local public health leaders around the U.S. have resigned or have been fired amid the coronavirus outbreak, a testament to how politically combustible masks, lockdowns and infection data have become.
• Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez reported seven new cases of COVID-19 and one additional virus-related death among the Navajo Nation.
• Arizona health leaders provided the necessary steps required for gyms and fitness centers to reopen as required by a judge’s decision from last week.
• Arizona businesses that were closed under an executive order designed to curb the spread of COVID-19 received a data-driven roadmap for reopening.
• There were more than 19.9 million coronavirus cases and 731,000 deaths reported globally as of Monday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University. For the U.S., there were more than 5 million cases and 162,000 deaths.

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