Arizona reports 7,206 new COVID-19 cases, 127 more deaths

This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for Jan 6, 2021.

PHOENIX – Arizona health officials on Wednesday reported 7,206 new coronavirus cases and 127 additional deaths from COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Arizona’s hospitals continued to see record numbers of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients.

The state’s documented totals moved to 574,680 COVID-19 infections and 9,444 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services dashboard.

As of Tuesday, Arizona had the highest case rate per capita in the last seven days and was tied for the sixth-highest death rate per capita, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The number of Arizona’s COVID-19 hospital inpatients climbed to 4,877 on Tuesday, 88 more than the record set a day earlier.

The number of COVID-19 patients in the state’s ICU beds dipped to 1,084 on Tuesday, 12 below Monday’s record report and the second-highest ever.

Statewide, suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients took up 57% of all inpatient beds, a record, and 61% of all ICU beds.

Overall, inpatient beds and ICU beds were each 93% full, matching the pandemic highs.

Arizona’s weekly percent positivity for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, is the highest it’s ever been.

Of the 162,392 people who got tested last week, 25% received a positive result. That’s 4 percentage points above the previous record.

So far this week, 27% of the 15,002 people who were tested got a positive result.

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 coronavirus cases was 8,607.43 for Tuesday, the second-highest ever, according to tracking by The Associated Press.

The seven-day average of newly reported COVID-19 deaths was 96.71 for Tuesday, also the second-highest ever.

The state’s 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.

Diagnostic testing is available at hundreds of locations across Arizona and should be sought out by anybody with symptoms or who may have been exposed to an infected person. Information about locations, schedules and registration can be found on the Department of Health Services website.

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

• The Navajo Nation reported 222 new coronavirus cases and one more death, bringing the documented totals to 24,247 infections and 838 fatalities.
• Maricopa County is moving to the next phase of COVID-19 vaccinations next week, expanding access to teachers, police and elderly people.
• Globally, there were about 86.57 million COVID-19 cases and 1.87 million deaths as of Wednesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University research. The figures for the U.S. were around 21.01 million cases and 357,000 deaths.

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