Name: ICU bed use, ER visits hit new highs for Arizona COVID-19 cases
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ICU bed use, ER visits hit new highs for Arizona COVID-19 cases

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Arizona RepublicView CommentsArizona's daily coronavirus numbers climbed again Monday, continuing more than two&nbsp;weeks of high numbers of reported cases, deaths and hospitalizations.The state reported 1,014 new cases Monday. More than 1,000 new cases have been reported on&nbsp;10 of the past 14 days, including on the past six days.&nbsp;ICU beds for patients with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 hit its highest number on Sunday, with 464 patients in the ICU, surpassing Saturday's 452 patients.Emergency department visits for patients with suspected and confirmed positive COVID-19 also reached&nbsp;its highest level on Sunday, with 931 patients seen for COVID-19&nbsp;in emergency rooms.In a briefing last week, Gov. Doug Ducey focused on&nbsp;&nbsp;— saying that although positive COVID-19 cases have been increasing, Arizona's hospitals are prepared to handle more patients.Ducey said concern&nbsp;about hospitals was&nbsp;"misinformation" and that Arizona hospitals are doing fine.&nbsp;Arizona's sharp uptick during&nbsp;the past two to three weeks, particularly the spikes in positive cases, has&nbsp;&nbsp;locally and nationally about whether the state has done enough to slow the spread and what other precautions may be necessary.&nbsp;Ducey's stay-at-home order expired just over a month ago.&nbsp;Here's what you need to know about Monday's new numbers. The state isn't talking about&nbsp;possible new mitigation strategies or changes.&nbsp;Ducey and&nbsp;Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, have encouraged a redoubling of personal precautions such as physical distancing and mask-wearing when that's not possible. They repeatedly say Arizona has taken adequate precautions statewide and is prepared.&nbsp;Although there is capacity, hospital systems worry about staffing and other challenges. while there are plans in place for a surge of COVID-19 patients, that would put great pressure on staffing, test supplies and other hospital services. Hospital leaders are also concerned about potentially having to stop elective surgeries again given the negative effects on patient health.Sticking out on the map.&nbsp;In some projections, Arizona is appearing among the worst places nationwide for COVID-19 spread.&nbsp;Youyang Gu, a data scientist behind&nbsp;, created&nbsp;a&nbsp;of how&nbsp;cases are changing across states, taking into account both population and the rate of increase.Arizona appears dark orange, earning the fourth-worst score among all states for COVID-19 case changes, behind South Carolina, Alabama and Florida.One model shifted up its death estimates.&nbsp;A&nbsp; at the University of Washington&nbsp;has increased its death projections for Arizona to 4,762 deaths by Oct.&nbsp;1.The percentage of positive tests is increasing. This is the opposite direction from&nbsp;White House reopening criteria.&nbsp;The percentage of positive tests out of all tests per week increased to 14%&nbsp;last week, from 6% a month ago to 9% three weeks ago to 12% two weeks ago. When the state decided to reopen in mid-May, that number had been trending down, but it has been increasing ever since.&nbsp;Ducey said several times in his briefing last week that the increase in cases and percent of positive tests correlated with the increase in testing. But during&nbsp;the past two weeks, cases increased by 82% and tests increased by&nbsp;just&nbsp;51%.&nbsp;There is still some hospital capacity.&nbsp;Ducey emphasized the state has enough hospital capacity, pointing to current available space in hospitals as well as additional surge methods and more beds that can be brought online if necessary.&nbsp;As of Sunday, 83% of current inpatient beds and 82% of ICU beds were in use for COVID-19 and other patients.Republic reporter Stephanie Innes contributed to this article.Reach the reporter at or at 602-444-4282. Follow her on Twitter .Support local journalism. View Comments

Arizona RepublicView CommentsArizona's daily coronavirus numbers climbed again Monday, continuing more than two&nbsp;weeks of high numbers of reported cases, deaths and hospitalizations.The state reported 1,014 new cases Monday. More than 1,000 new cases have been reported on&nbsp;10 of the past 14 days, including on the past six days.&nbsp;ICU beds for patients with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 hit its highest number on Sunday, with 464 patients in the ICU, surpassing Saturday's 452 patients.Emergency department visits for patients with suspected and confirmed positive COVID-19 also...

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Alison Steinbach

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ICU bed use, ER visits hit new highs for Arizona COVID-19 cases

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