Arizona reports over 3K more virus cases on 2nd straight day

Parents, teachers react to lawsuits filed over school mask mandates

Currently, there are two lawsuits related to the topic of mask mandates. One of them was filed by a Phoenix school teacher against his school district's mandate, and the other is filed against the state government. FOX 10's Matt Galka reports.

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona on Aug. 14 reported over 3,000 additional COVID-19 cases for the second straight day as the state’s seven-day rolling averages for cases and deaths continued to rise along with virus-related hospitalizations.

The state’s coronavirus dashboard reported 1,601 hospitalizations as of Thursday, along with 3,418 additional cases and 27 more deaths, increasing the pandemic totals to 962,410 cases and 18,462 deaths.

According to Johns Hopkins University data, the seven-day rolling average of daily new cases rose over the past two weeks from about 1,577 new cases on July 29 to around 2,604 on Thursday. The rolling average of daily deaths rose from 11.4 to 13.3 during the same period.

The numbers of hospitalizations and additional deaths remain far below those seen during the surges last summer and last winter. However, current case levels are beginning to approach the 2020 summer surge’s daily highs while remaining far below those of the winter surge.

Before Friday, Arizona last reported more than 3,000 additional COVID-19 infections last February.