Arizona catches up after data issue, reports over 6,000 new COVID-19 cases

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Health Services experienced lags in some daily COVID-19 reporting this week, but the numbers started to catch up Wednesday with a large update.

A data-processing issue over the weekend was resolved Monday morning, ADHS said, but it impacted several days’ of reporting. As a result, only 608 new cases combined were reported Monday and Tuesday, well below normal updates.

Today’s #COVID19 dashboard update adds 6,299 cases and 81 deaths. Reminder: These additions are higher than they’d otherwise be due to an issue with data processing over the weekend. Details: https://t.co/hHFJk874Vf

— AZ Dept of Health (@AZDHS) October 27, 2021

“Even once a problem is resolved, it can take some time for all the data to process through the system,” ADHS Interim Director Don Herrington said in a blog post Monday.

The state’s COVID-19 dashboard made up ground Wednesday morning, adding 6,299 new cases and 81 deaths. The daily average for Monday-Wednesday comes out to 2,302 cases and 77 deaths, in line with typical recent daily reports.

ADHS said the numbers are likely to be higher than normal Thursday, too, as more delayed data gets processed.

Prior to Monday’s report of just 158 new cases, the last daily report with fewer than 1,000 cases was Aug. 31, although ADHS said there was a data-processing issue that day. Until this week’s issues, you’d have to go back to July to find the most recent sub-1,000 report that didn’t come with a caveat.

There was also a lag in some reporting early last week, but that was due to a scheduled system update.

As of Wednesday, the documented pandemic totals in Arizona were 1,156,731 infections and 21,044 fatalities.

According to tracking by The New York Times, Arizona surpassed New York this week in all-time COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 residents and now ranks fifth in the nation in that category.

The number of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 inpatients in Arizona hospitals Tuesday was 1,730, up two from the previous day.

The number of ICU beds used by COVID-19 patients was 446, up 13 from the previous day but still the second-lowest mark since Aug. 19.

The dashboard also showed that 4,232,611 people (58.9% of the state’s population, based on 7,189,020 residents) have received at least one dose of vaccine in Arizona and 3,672,908 people are fully vaccinated (51.1% of the population). The nationwide rates are 66.5% with at least one dose and 57.5% fully vaccinated, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In August, unvaccinated people nationwide were 6.1 times more likely to get infected and 11.3 times more likely to die than people who were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

The state health department’s daily updates present case and death 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 numbers posted each morning are reported electronically the previous evening by hospitals across the state.

Free federally authorized vaccines are widely available. The minimum age to receive the Pfizer shot is 12, and it’s 18 for the other available versions: Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

For details about statewide vaccine availability, the ADHS website has a vaccine-finder page with locations and other information.

For information about metro Phoenix vaccine availability, Maricopa County Public Health has a locator page that lists pharmacies, health clinics and pop-up distribution events. Appointments may be required depending on the provider.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 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 where to get tested for COVID-19 can be found on the ADHS website.

Follow @KTAR923