Name: Arizona coronavirus update: 35,691 confirmed cases, 1,186 known deaths as of Sunday
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Arizona coronavirus update: 35,691 confirmed cases, 1,186 known deaths as of Sunday

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Arizona RepublicView CommentsArizona cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, now exceed 35,600&nbsp;with 1,186&nbsp;known deaths,&nbsp;according to&nbsp;Arizona's total identified&nbsp;cases rose to 35,691 Sunday, according to the&nbsp;most recent state figures. .Inpatient hospitalizations for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 hit its highest number on Thursday, with 1,336 hospitalizations, up from the previous high of 1,291 hospitalizations on Wednesday. Emergency department visits for patients with suspected or confirmed positive COVID-19 also reached&nbsp;its highest level on Thursday&nbsp;with 915 patients,&nbsp;far surpassing the next highest of 848 patients on both Monday and Wednesday.&nbsp;Gov. Doug Ducey focused his news briefing on Thursday on hospital capacity&nbsp;— saying that although positive COVID-19 cases have been increasing, Arizona's hospitals are fully prepared to handle more patients.Arizona's sharp increases over the past two weeks, particularly the spikes in positive cases, have raised questions and alarm&nbsp;locally and nationally about whether the state has done enough to slow the spread and what other precautions may be necessary.&nbsp;During the past two weeks, the state has reported higher daily increases in cases, deaths and hospitalization rates than any time previously. Ducey's stay-at-home order expired nearly a month ago.&nbsp;Some experts warn&nbsp;that Arizona is experiencing a&nbsp;spike in community spread, pointing to&nbsp;increases in the number of positive cases, the percent of positive tests out of total tests, and hospitalizations. But Ducey said concerns about hospitals was "misinformation" and that Arizona hospitals are doing fine.&nbsp;Here's what you need to know about Sunday's new numbers.Inpatients with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 hit a record high 1,336 on Thursday, and hit another record of 1,412 on Friday. This was the 12th&nbsp;consecutive day that hospitalizations statewide have eclipsed 1,000, the highest they’ve been since the state began reporting the data on April 8.Ventilator use for suspected and confirmed positive COVID-19 patients also hit its highest number on Friday: 309&nbsp;patients on ventilators, continuing a trend of high ventilator numbers for the past two and a half weeks — especially high this week.&nbsp;ICU bed use for suspected and confirmed positive COVID-19 patients hit 447 Friday, a new record. Friday was&nbsp;the 18th consecutive day that the number has been higher than 370 and the fifth consecutive day it&nbsp;passed 400.Emergency department visits for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 hit its highest on Thursday&nbsp;with 915 patients, far surpassing the next highest of 848 on Monday and Wednesday. The number went down slightly on Friday, to 902. Numbers surpassed 800 on June 5 and have been above every day since. Since April 8, emergency department daily visits for COVID-19 were typically in the 400s and 500s.Patients with suspected or confirmed positive COVID-19 discharged from hospitals has hovered between around 95 and 130 individuals discharged each day for the past two weeks. The highest day for COVID-19 patient discharge was April 17 with 242 patients discharged. 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 from 5% a month ago to 6% three weeks ago to 9% two weeks ago, and 12% last week. When the state decided to reopen in mid-May, that number had been trending down, which was good, but it has been increasing ever since.&nbsp;Ducey several times said the increase in cases and percent of positive tests correlated with the increase in testing. But over the past two weeks, cases increased by 78% and tests increased by&nbsp;just&nbsp;53%.&nbsp;There is still some hospital capacity. Ducey repeatedly emphasized Thursday 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;One hour before Thursday's news&nbsp;conference, leaders from six major Arizona health systems sent out a letter saying that hospitals in the state have adequate capacity to handle a surge of COVID-19 patients. As of Thursday, 83% of current inpatient beds and 80% of ICU beds were in use for COVID-19 and other patients.Hospitalization raw numbers continue to worsen. State health department urges hospitals to prepare for crisis situation.&nbsp;As COVID-19 numbers in Arizona climbed last week, the state health director again sent a letter to hospitals urging them to&nbsp;"fully activate" emergency plans.&nbsp;Hospitals are being reminded to prepare for crisis care and to suspend elective surgeries if they are experiencing a shortage of staff or bed capacity. State health officials said the letter that Christ sent Saturday was a reiteration of one they sent out on March 25. Daniel Ruiz, the governor's chief operating officer, said media reports about the letter left the impression that hospitals in Arizona are running out of capacity, which they are not.Republic reporter Stephanie Innes contributed to this article.View Comments

Arizona RepublicView CommentsArizona cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, now exceed 35,600&nbsp;with 1,186&nbsp;known deaths,&nbsp;according to&nbsp;Arizona's total identified&nbsp;cases rose to 35,691 Sunday, according to the&nbsp;most recent state figures. .Inpatient hospitalizations for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 hit its highest number on Thursday, with 1,336 hospitalizations, up from the previous high of 1,291 hospitalizations on Wednesday. Emergency department visits for patients with suspected or confirmed positive COVID-19 also...

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Chelsea Curtis

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Arizona coronavirus update: 35,691 confirmed cases, 1,186 known deaths as of Sunday

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