Arizona reports 1,296 new coronavirus cases, 3 more deaths

This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for Dec. 27, 2020.

PHOENIX – Arizona health officials reported 1,296 new coronavirus cases and three additional deaths on Sunday.

The state’s documented totals increased to 494,337 COVID-19 infections and 8,427 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services dashboard.

Multiple COVID-19 metrics in Arizona have been at or near pandemic highs.

The number of Arizona’s confirmed or suspected COVID-19 hospital inpatients reached 4,190 on Saturday, after a decrease from the all-time high of 4,226 on Thursday.

The number of COVID-19 patients in the state’s ICU beds increased to 988, setting a record for the third time in the last four days.

Statewide, suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients took up 49% of all inpatient beds, down from a record 50% in the two previous days, and 55% of all ICU beds.

Overall, inpatient beds were 89% filled and ICU beds were 90% full. The state had 177 unused ICU beds Saturday, 23 more than the previous day.

Arizona’s weekly percent positivity for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, was 22% through 87,461 tests for this week. If that holds up, it will break the record of 21% from the week starting June 28.

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 health department’s newly reported cases was 6,401.43 for Saturday, according to tracking by The Associated Press.

The seven-day average of newly reported COVID-19 deaths was 69.57 for Saturday, declining for the fourth consecutive day.

The daily updates 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 electronically the previous evening by 100 hospitals across the state, as required under executive order.

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.

Information about testing locations can be found on the Arizona Department of Health Services website.

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

• The Navajo Nation reported 122 new coronavirus cases and 10 additional deaths, bringing the documented totals to 22,277 infections and 777 fatalities.
• President Donald Trump appeared no closer to signing an end-of-year COVID-19 relief and spending bill Sunday as millions lost unemployment aid, the government barreled toward a mid-pandemic shutdown and lawmakers implored him to act.
• Globally, there were about 80.45 million COVID-19 cases and 1.75 million deaths as of Sunday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University research. The figures for the U.S. were around 18.9 million cases and 331,930 deaths.

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