Arizona reports over 3,100 COVID cases; hospitals crowded

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This 2020 electron microscope image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - Rocky Mountain Laboratories shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles which cause COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells cultured in a lab. (NIAID-RML via AP)

Arizona on Wednesday reported over 3,100 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases as virus-related hospitalizations remained near the current surge’s peak.

The 3,163 additional cases and 43 deaths reported Wednesday by the Department of Health Services’ coronavirus dashboard raised the state’s pandemic totals to 1,272,943 cases and 22,350 deaths.

As of Tuesday, 2,661 virus patients occupied inpatient hospital beds, down slightly from the surge’s peak of 2,676 on Monday.

With many patients also hospitalized for reasons other than COVID-19, only 6% of inpatient beds statewide were available and not in use. That percentage is a pandemic low first reached in mid-November.

According to Johns Hopkins University data, Arizona’s seven-day rolling average of daily new cases dropped in the past two weeks, decreasing from 3,564.3 on Nov. 15 to 3,085.1 on Monday.

The rolling average of daily deaths stayed about the same during the same period, dropping from 35.7 to 35.

Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.