PHOENIX — Visual data released by the White House COVID-19 Task Force show maps and charts stacking up different parts of the country, comparing COVID-19 data including case rates, mortality numbers, hospital metrics and more.
Since early January, Arizona has had the highest or one of the highest rates in the country for average daily cases per 100,000 people, per CDC data. The rate for much of the last few weeks has consistently been above 120, but now Arizona sits at a rate of 97.4. However, this remains the highest rate in the U.S. as of January 21.
Arizona Department of Health Services data showed all-time highs were reached in both COVID-19 patients and COVID-19 ICU patients in the state on Jan. 11, with 5,082 people with COVID-19 in hospitals, and 1,183 of them in the state’s intensive care units. While these hospital numbers have begun inching down in recent days, healthcare experts say we're nowhere near out of the woods.
The Community Profile Report from the White House COVID-19 Task Force, updated Thursday to show data from the week of Jan. 13-19, shows Arizona remains one of the worst spots in the country in terms of coronavirus statistics like case numbers and hospitalizations.
In new cases and new deaths in the last seven days (week of Jan. 13-19), Maricopa County was one of less than 10 counties to hit the 10,000+ cases range. Maricopa and Pima County fell in the 100 or more deaths category, along with a small number of counties throughout the country.
In terms of incidence rate, the new cases per 100,000 by county, the entirety of Arizona sits in the red or darker red category, with Coconino, La Paz and Yuma counties in the highest category.
The percent change, however, had much of Arizona 25% less than the previous seven days case rate, including Maricopa County.
In the area of concern continuum, a map showing classifications of what stage each county is in the pandemic, nearly the entire state, along with much of the country, continues to be a sustained hotspot. According to the data, this means most of the state remains with a high sustained case burden and may be at a higher risk for experiencing health care resource limitations.
Speaking of health care resources, the data shows that Arizona hospitals statewide are experiencing a high volume of COVID-19 inpatients and ICU patients.
Much of Arizona sits in the worst category for daily COVID-19 hospital inpatients over the last 7 days last week, total COVID-19 hospital admissions and daily adult ICU COVID-19 patients.
From the data showing high hospital admissions, three Arizona cities ranked in the top 10 in the country last week for cities with populations 50,000 to 250,000: Yuma (4), Show Low (7) and Lake Havasu City (8).
This data combines the count of seven days confirmed COVID-19 hospital admissions, seven-day COVID-19 admissions per 100 beds and seven-day percent change in confirmed COVID-19 hospital admissions.
Arizona cities are popular on the lists for the top 10 cities in the country with a high burden as well.
The high burden measurement sums up an area's 7-day case count, 7-day cases per 100,000 and 7-day average viral (RT-PCR) lab test positivity.
Of metropolitan areas with a population of 1 million or more, Phoenix is third, behind Riverside, California, and Los Angeles. Tucson ranks ninth.
In cities with populations from 50,000 to 250,000, Yuma ranks the worst with Lake Havasu City fourth.
The Arizona Department of Health Services reported 9,398 new cases and 244 new deaths on Thursday.
There were 4,580 hospitalized COVID-19 patients occupying inpatient beds as of Wednesday, down from the Jan. 11 record of 5,082.
Arizona’s seven-day rolling average of daily new cases declined from 8,884.4 on Jan. 6 to 6,973.6 on Wednesday.
There have been 347,013 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Arizona as of Wednesday.
The department said all the vaccine appointments for February are booked at both state-run sites. It was not immediately known when appointments for March would be made available.
ADHS reports the number of new cases on the day the cases were reported to them by counties and hospitals, not on the day when someone was diagnosed with the virus.
Arizona reached 11,000 coronavirus deaths on Jan. 15, just six takes after reaching 10,000 deaths on Jan. 9. Arizona was at 9,000 coronavirus deaths on Jan. 1.