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Posted Aug 24, 2021, 10:57 am

Dylan Smith TucsonSentinel.com

There were another 2,695 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona on Tuesday, making for nearly 20,900 in the past week — with 171 deaths. Pima County, with 152 new cases, is seeing daily new infections not experienced since February as the latest pandemic wave continues.

This week, the state will likely top 1 million total reported coronavirus infections since the beginning of the outbreak, with about 2,000 Arizona residents now hospitalized because of the virus.

The new Arizona cases followed 2,632 new confirmed cases on Monday, 3,195 new cases Saturday, and 3,109 infections reported on Friday — after 3,546 new cases Thursday, 2,402 new reported cases Wednesday, and 2,661 last Tuesday.

There have been 20,886 new reported coronavirus infections in the state in the past seven days.

In Pima County, the 152 new COVID cases reported Tuesday came after 229 new cases on Monday, 248 new cases Sunday, with 264 new reported coronavirus infections on Saturday, 216 new cases Friday, 401 on Thursday, 262 new cases Wednesday, after 171 new cases were reported in Pima County last Tuesday, as both the state and county had the highest daily figures since the beginning of February.

Pima County is continuing to see "high" rates of community spread, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The county Health Department issued a new public health advisory last Tuesday, saying that local hospitals are "stretched thin" and seeking federal assistance to deal with the "unprecedented surge" in COVID cases and other admissions.

Friday, there were just 7 intensive care beds available in all of Pima County's hospitals, in part due to the number of COVID patients being treated. Across the state, about 2,000 COVID patients are hospitalized — more than four times as many as at the beginning of July.

It is "critical" that residents "understand the threat that COVID-19 and decreased hospital capacity poses to the public’s health and safety," county health officials said. "We have seen a threefold increase in the number of cases in the past two weeks, which requires an urgent community-wide response to protect the public’s health."

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There were 38 new deaths reported Tuesday, after 36 deaths were reported Saturday from the coronavirus and 3 more on Sunday, with 171 deaths over the past seven days, Arizona Department of Health Services data indicated. 4 of the deaths reported Tuesday and 2 reported this weekend were Pima County residents. 18,638 Arizonans are now dead from the virus.

As the Delta variant continues to spike, health officials have advised that everyone — even those who've been vaccinated — wear masks while indoors in public.

The 401 new cases in Pima County reported last Thursday were the highest daily total since February 2.

Pima County finds itself with a such a sustained pace of new coronavirus infections that the CDC increased its assessment of the level of pandemic severity here from "substantial" to "high" rates of transmission earlier this month.

"In Pima County at this time, the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant has become the dominant strain and is up to six times more contagious than other strains," officials said in a new Pima public health advisory issued  last week.

New Arizona COVID cases

"A growing number of younger and middle-aged people are being hospitalized with COVID-19," Pima officials said. "In addition to the growing number of cases in school settings, Pima County is seeing increasing numbers of pediatric cases where COVID illness is seriously affecting young children. This has resulted in more children being seen in emergency rooms due to COVID-19 illness, as well as for other reasons including lung and respiratory infections (RSV)and flu."

Earlier this month, the August 6 daily case update was the largest statewide increase since the beginning of February, when there were about 300 new reported cases each day in the county, and about 2,200 daily across the state. Last week saw even larger daily case counts, with Friday, Saturday and Sunday each topping 3,000 across Arizona. The 3,835 cases reported on February 1 were the last time the daily report was more than 2,900.

New Pima County COVID cases

Mondays have seen the lowest reports of new cases and deaths throughout the pandemic. ADHS figures are updated each morning, based on reports from hospitals and laboratories the previous day, but not all new cases precisely correspond with the date they are reported. Some new cases may not be included for 4-7 days, state health officials have said, with weekend reports typically lacking some of the latest cases.

Due to cases sometimes taking several days to be added to the county, due to testing and reporting delays between hospitals, laboratories and the Arizona Department of Health Services, the initial tally for Monday, August 2, of new reported cases was 2,846, but the actual number of confirmed positive samples related to new cases collected that day was 3,136, more recent state data showed.

The last time the total daily case count was that high was February 1, ADHS data showed.

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New Arizona COVID deaths

18,638 Arizonans have now died from COVID-19. 4 new deaths in Pima County were reported Tuesday, following 2 additional deaths reported Saturday, with 6 more added on Friday.

The number of people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID infections has also hit numbers not seen since the start of March, with 1,994 patients in hospitals Monday — up from 1,380 hospitalized people at the start of the previous week, and and nearly four times the number at the beginning of July, when there were about 500 hospitalized coronavirus patients in Arizona.

Friday, there were just 7 intensive care beds available in all of Pima County's hospitals, in part due to the number of COVID patients being treated.

"Area hospitals, across the board, have severe nursing workforce shortages due to high rates of turnover and burnout from the pandemic," Pima County Health Department officials said. "Local hospitals are being forced to rely on travelling nursing staff to ensure adequate clinical services."

"Due to the increased demand for hospital beds, Pima County’s hospital capacity is now stretched very thin — creating a growing cause for concern. PCHD is actively assisting area hospitals to request federal assistance to address the healthcare workforce shortages and alleviate decreased surge capacity," officials said.

"Area hospitals are experiencing more people presenting to the ER who are sick for reasons other than COVID-19 such as heart attacks, RSV and sepsis, who require hospital admission," Pima officials said Tuesday. "This is putting significant pressure on critical health care resources. Currently, there is very limited availability of ICU beds as well as adult medical-surgical beds across the area hospitals. Local hospitals are also experiencing abnormally long wait times for EMS to be able to transfer care of their patient to the hospital staff. When this happens, EMS crews remain out of service and are unable to respond to other emergencies."

In Pima County, 2,485 people have died from the coronavirus, with 4 new deaths reported Tuesday, after 6 reported deaths Friday and 2 more on Saturday.

There have been more than 125,000 reported cases in the county, which is seeing the highest levels of new cases since early February.

Across the state, there have been more than 991,000 confirmed positive cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began last year.

In Pima County, one out of 426 residents has died from the virus, and health officials are "strongly recommending" that everyone wear face masks in public indoor settings — even those who've been fully vaccinated.

Along with an increase in overall COVID cases that now falls under the CDC's "high transmission" metrics, the coronavirus outbreak here is beginning to infect children and reach into schools more than previously, Pima officials have said.

In addition to the push for everyone to wear masks when inside public buildings if they cannot remain six feet away from others, the a public health advisory from the Pima County Health Department "strongly recommends that all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools wear masks indoors at all times during school regardless of vaccination status."

More than 95% of new confirmed coronavirus infections are in people who have not been vaccinated — including children under 12, who are not yet eligible to get the COVID shots. Breakthrough cases — cases in people who have been fully vaccinated — account for less than 0.1% of all cases, officials said.