Arizona reports 2,482 additional COVID cases, 9 more deaths

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona on Saturday reported 2,482 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases and nine more virus deaths as pandemic metrics showed continued slowing of the current surge as seen around the nation.

The state’s pandemic totals increased to 1,131,976 cases and 20,500 deaths, according to the Department of Health Service’s coronavirus dashboard.

The dashboard also reported that 1,670 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized as of Friday, the second straight day that virus hospitalizations dropped below 1,700 for the first time since mid-August.

The current surge’s hospitalizations peaked at 2,103 on Sept. 11, far below the pandemic peak of 5,082 on Jan. 11 during last winter’s surge.

Meanwhile, Johns Hopkins University data showed the seven-day rolling average of daily new cases declined from 2,621.6 to 2,204.7 on Thursday while the rolling average of daily deaths dropped from 43.1 to 29.7 during the same period.

The DHS announced Friday that its dashboard that cases, deaths and some data on hospitalizations won’t be updated Sunday and Monday due to a system update.

That means Tuesday’s results of those metrics likely will include three days of reporting and be unusually large, the department said. ""We expect daily additions to get back to normal levels in the days after."

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