Arizona health officials release weekly coronavirus report
New cases Thursday top 7,000
PHOENIX, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The coronavirus continues to spread across the state at an alarming rate. That's the news from the Arizona Department of Health Services' (ADHS) weekly report the pandemic.
ADHS confirmed another 7,046 new cases of the virus Thursday. For the sixth time in nine days, deaths from the illness topped 100. The 115 additional victims brings the statewide death toll to 8,294.
Health officials also said a record 4,221 patients are now hospitalized for coronavirus. Only 8% of the state's hospital beds are available. Intensive care unit (ICU) space is down to just 7%.
The new ADHS report shows new cases climbed by a stunning 56% in the period between November 11th and December 14th.
It also shows the state's positivity rate hit 18% last week. That's the highest since July.
However, even with testing at its highest level since the start of the pandemic, the percentage of positive tests is slowly declining. It hit 14.9% last week. That's down from 15.7% the previous week.
The overwhelming number of those testing positive are between the ages of 20 and 44.
Those 65 and older make up only 11% of those infected, however these older patients account for most of the state's hospitalizations and deaths.
The report shows Yuma County seeing a spike in new cases around December 6th, but new cases now seem to be slowly dropping.
On November 22nd, Yuma had dipped into the yellow zone, meaning the percent of positive cases dropped below 10%.
Not one county in the state is currently considered safe enough to conduct in-person learning. Similarly, cases remain too high for bars and nightclubs that don't serve food to open their doors.
