Arizona COVID-19 cases remain above 3,000 per day

Arizona hospitals see rise in pediatric COVID-19 cases amid nursing shortage

Valley hospitals are struggling with an increase in patients amid the latest COVID-19 surge while combating a severe nursing shortage.

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona health officials on Sunday reported more than 3,000 new coronavirus cases and an additional three deaths as a surge driven by the delta variant continued for the sixth week.

The Arizona Department of Health Services reported 3,307 new infections, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 986,082. The total number of people who have died in the state from COVID-19 is now 18,600.

On Saturday, the health department reported 3,195 news cases and 36 additional deaths.

The number of new infections each day had dropped below 1,000 for several months in the spring and early summer until the new variant began hitting Arizona in July. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Arizona has risen over the past two weeks from 2,311 new cases per day on Aug. 6 to 2,452 on Aug. 20.

That has led to a slightly greater number of people deciding to get a COVID-19 vaccine in recent weeks.

More than half of Arizona’s population has received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Hospitalizations due to the virus have climbed to the highest number since mid-February.

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More than 1,800 people are hospitalized with the virus, 462 of them in intensive care.