Arizona reports 735 new COVID-19 cases, 42 additional deaths Saturday

This is a regularly updated story with the latest information about the coronavirus and its impact in Arizona and beyond for March 20, 2021.

PHOENIX – Arizona public health officials on Saturday reported 735 new coronavirus cases and 42 additional deaths from COVID-19.

The state’s documented totals were updated to 835,765 coronavirus infections and 16,733 fatalities, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services’ COVID-19 dashboard.

Key metrics used to gauge the extent of the pandemic are at or near the lowest they’ve been in months, and nearly a quarter of Arizona’s population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

The ADHS dashboard showed that 2,825,593 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the state, a day-over-day increase of 42,265, with 1,782,041 people (24.8% of the state’s population) having received at least one shot.

The number of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 inpatients in the state’s hospitals increased to 700 on Friday. The number of ICU beds used by COVID-19 patients fell to 182, the fewest since Oct. 25.

Arizona’s weekly percent positivity for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, is at a five-month low.

Of the 39,549 people tested so far this week, 5% received a positive result, matching the lowest mark since early October.

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 Arizona health department’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 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.

For details about statewide COVID-19 vaccine availability, the ADHS website has a vaccine-finder page with a map of locations and information about registration and eligibility.

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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 five new COVID-19 cases and four additional deaths, bringing the documented totals to 29,998 infections and 1,233 fatalities.
• Globally, there were about 122.45 million COVID-19 cases and 2.7 million deaths as of Saturday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University research. The figures for the U.S. were around 29.73 million cases and 541,145 deaths.

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