Arizona: More than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases, 3rd day in row

ASU students move back to campus amid rising COVID-19 cases

Just days after Arizona State University announced they will mandate masks in indoor settings, freshman students of the Barrett Honors College moved into their new dorms for the fall semester.

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona health officials on Aug. 15 reported more than 3,000 additional COVID-19 cases for the third consecutive day.

The state’s coronavirus dashboard reported 3,052 additional cases and two more deaths, increasing the pandemic totals to 965,462 cases and 18,464 known deaths since the pandemic began more than a year ago.

Arizona reported 3,225 cases Friday along with 23 deaths and 3,418 cases and 27 deaths on Saturday.

Before Friday, Arizona last reported more than 3,000 additional COVID-19 infections six months ago on Feb. 9.

The numbers of hospitalizations and additional deaths remain far below those seen during the surges last summer and last winter in Arizona.

However, current case levels are beginning to approach the 2020 summer surge’s daily highs while remaining far below those of the winter.

Hospitalizations in the state related to COVID-19 have nearly tripled since the end of May.

The dashboard also showed that more than 3.8 million Arizonans (54.1% of the state’s population) have received at least one dose of vaccine and over 3.4 million are fully vaccinated (47.5% of the population).

The nationwide rates are 59.4% with at least one dose and 50.5% fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.