Name: Arizona reports another 4,221 COVID-19 cases as hospitals continue to fill up
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Arizona reports another 4,221 COVID-19 cases as hospitals continue to fill up

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Arizona RepublicView CommentsArizona reported another 4,221 COVID-19 cases on Friday and hospital metrics remained high&nbsp;as Gov. Doug Ducey urged Arizonans to stay home but shied away from&nbsp;major policy changes.Identified cases rose to 116,892 and known deaths total 2,082,&nbsp;according to the&nbsp;. The state does not report the number of recovered cases, though it does report hospital discharges.ICU beds and ventilators in use by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients both hit new records on Thursday, according to hospital data reported to the state. Emergency room visits and inpatient beds in use dropped slightly but&nbsp;hovered close to&nbsp;record high numbers from earlier this week.Friday's dashboard shows 88% of current inpatient beds and 89% of ICU beds were in use, which includes people being treated for&nbsp;COVID-19 and other patients. Most people who get the disease are not hospitalized.&nbsp;The 44 additional known deaths reported on Friday represent&nbsp;the new deaths identified by the Health Department that day, but deaths&nbsp;.Rapid case increases and hospitalizations have made Arizona&nbsp;one of the worst hot spots in the nation&nbsp;for COVID-19. The disease is widespread in the state, and health officials&nbsp;caution people to stay home&nbsp;unless necessary to leave and to wear masks in public.Ducey did not announce significant new measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 at a Thursday news briefing despite pleas for aggressive action from doctors, mayors and some state lawmakers. He rolled out just one policy change:&nbsp;a directive for dine-in service.&nbsp;Ducey also announced an after weeks of insufficient testing during Arizona's rapid case increases. This&nbsp;includes increased free testing and boosted capacity for test processing so results come back quicker. Testing has not kept pace with the virus's growth, and the percentage of tests coming back positive has spiked sharply since mid-May, indicating a significant increase in community spread.During&nbsp;the past three weeks, cases increased by 150% and tests increased by&nbsp;just&nbsp;71%. Of known test results from last week, 21% have&nbsp;.Here's what you need to know about&nbsp;Friday's new numbers.The percentage of positive tests is increasing.&nbsp;This is the opposite direction from White House reopening criteria.&nbsp;The percentage of positive tests out of all tests per week increased to 21%&nbsp;last week for results&nbsp;that have come back so far. That figure was 14% a month ago, up to 18% three weeks ago, to 21% two weeks ago. When the state decided to reopen on May 16, that number had been trending down, but it has been increasing ever since.&nbsp;More than one in four COVID-19 tests in Arizona are coming back positive, the highest percentage in the country,&nbsp;according to&nbsp;, and an indicator that there isn't enough testing to keep up with the new coronavirus' spread&nbsp;in the state.Hospital capacity.&nbsp;Ducey has emphasized the state has&nbsp;enough&nbsp;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, such as at a reopened St. Luke's Medical Center in Phoenix if needed. Dr. Cara Christ, the state health director, announced on Thursday the state would help with increasing&nbsp;hospital staffing and post-acute solutions to free up hospital beds.&nbsp;Republic reporter Maria Polletta contributed to this article.&nbsp;Reach the reporter at or at 602-444-4282. Follow her on Twitter .Support local journalism. View Comments

Arizona RepublicView CommentsArizona reported another 4,221 COVID-19 cases on Friday and hospital metrics remained high&nbsp;as Gov. Doug Ducey urged Arizonans to stay home but shied away from&nbsp;major policy changes.Identified cases rose to 116,892 and known deaths total 2,082,&nbsp;according to the&nbsp;. The state does not report the number of recovered cases, though it does report hospital discharges.ICU beds and ventilators in use by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients both hit new records on Thursday, according to hospital data reported to the state. Emergency room visits and...

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Alison Steinbach

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Arizona reports another 4,221 COVID-19 cases as hospitals continue to fill up

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