Arizona reports 2,621 new coronavirus cases, 38 deaths

This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for Saturday, Nov. 7.

PHOENIX – Arizona health authorities reported 2,621 new coronavirus cases and 38 additional deaths on Saturday morning.

It was the highest daily case report since Aug. 1. This week’s case count was the highest since the final week of July.

That put Arizona’s documented totals at 257,384 COVID-19 infections and 6,147 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Key metrics about the severity of Arizona’s pandemic have dropped dramatically from summertime peaks, but cases and hospitalizations have been trending upward over the last month-plus. Deaths have been surging in the last week.

The number of Arizona’s confirmed or suspected COVID-19 hospital inpatients increased overnight to 1,139 on Friday. That’s 94.4% higher than Oct. 1, when it was 586, and the most since Aug. 18.

The number of COVID-19 patients in ICU beds decreased by one to 249 on Friday, almost double the Oct. 1 mark of 125 and the third-most since Aug. 31.

The hospitalizations remain far under the pandemic highs of 3,517 inpatients and 970 ICU patients, both recorded July 13.

Arizona’s weekly percent positivity for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, has reached its highest level in two months.

The weekly rate was at 9% for 60,030 tests recorded from this week. It was 7% for last week, the highest since it was 8% for the week starting Aug. 2.

The weekly rate had been as high as 20% at the end of June.

Official positivity 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 and the results are documented by the state.

The rolling seven-day average for the state health department’s newly reported cases was up to 1,531.29 for Friday, according to tracking by The Associated Press, the highest since Aug. 7 more than triple the Oct. 1 mark of 480.

The seven-day average of newly reported deaths moved up to 25 for Friday, the highest mark since Sept. 10 and more than four times above the Oct. 14 mark of 6.

The seven-day averages remain well below their peaks of 3,844 cases on July 6 and 94 fatalities on July 30.

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 hospitalization data posted each morning is reported the previous evening by the hospitals.

As cases skyrocketed in June, local governments in many parts of Arizona — including all of Maricopa County — implemented face mask requirements, and Gov. Doug Ducey issued statewide executive orders to close certain businesses and restrict restaurant occupancy.

The spread of COVID-19 slowed after those steps were taken. All of Arizona’s counties have since hit benchmarks established by the health department that allow closed businesses to reopen under capacity restrictions and other regulations.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, 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.

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

• The Navajo Nation reported 158 new coronavirus cases but no additional deaths, keeping the death toll at 591.
• U.S. employers added 638,000 jobs in October, a solid pace though far fewer than needed to regain most of the jobs lost to the pandemic recession just as new viral cases are setting record highs.
• Globally, there were more than 49.47 million COVID-19 cases and 1.25 million deaths as of Saturday morning, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The figures for the U.S. were around 9.74 million cases and 236,155 deaths.

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