Arizona reports over 1,000 virus cases for 4th straight day

Arizona on July 17 reported over 1,000 additional COVID-19 cases for the fourth straight day as virus-related hospitalizations continued to increase.

The state Department of Health Services’ coronavirus dashboard reported 1,152 additional cases and 14 deaths, increasing Arizona’s pandemic totals to 907,268 cases and 18,114 deaths.

As across the nation, Arizona in recent weeks has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases. Public health experts attribute the increases to low vaccination rates, the fast-spreading delta variant and July Fourth gatherings.

The number of virus-related hospitalizations in Arizona generally ranged between 500 and 600 during May and June but rose in the past week, with 745 COVID-19-related hospitalizations as of Friday, according the dashboard.

Virus patients occupied 9% of in-patient beds as of Friday, up from 6% a week ago but far below the pandemic peak of nearly 60% seen in mid-January during the winter surge.

Meanwhile, Johns Hopkins University data showed that the seven-day rolling average of daily new cases rose over the past two weeks from 520 on July 1 to 898 on Thursday, while the rolling average of daily deaths rose from 9.8 to 13 during the same period.

Arizona’s pandemic daily peak topped 12,000 cases on Jan. 4, according to the dashboard.

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