Arizona reports over 2K more COVID cases on 4th straight day

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona on Saturday reported more than 2,000 additional COVID-19 cases for the fourth straight day as the number of virus-related hospitalizations continued to rise.

The state's coronavirus dashboard reported 2,653 additional cases and 34 deaths, increasing the pandemic totals to 943,415 cases and 18,376 deaths.

There were 1,358 COVID-19 patients occupying inpatient beds as of Friday, up from 866 two weeks earlier on July 23, according to the dashboard.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases nearly doubled over the past two weeks from 1,145,1 on July 22 to 2,227.6 on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The rolling average of daily daily deaths more than doubled during the same period, rising from 6.3 to 16.9, Johns Hopkins data indicated.

While the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths have all increased in the past month, levels remain far below those of the surges last summer and winter.

Public health officials attribute the recent increases to the highly contagious delta variant and lagging vaccination rates.

The Arizona dashboard reported that roughly 53.2% of the state's population has been vaccinated, with administration of 12,683 additional doses reported Saturday.