Arizona on pace of reporting over 3,000 virus cases per day

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona on Saturday stayed on its recent pace of reporting more than 3,000 additional COVID-19 cases per day during the current surge.

The state’s coronavirus dashboard reported 3,424 additional cases and 38 virus-related deaths, increasing the pandemic totals to 1,027,359 cases and 18,997 deaths.

Meanwhile, COVID-19-related hospitalizations continued to climb, with 2,082 virus patients occupying hospital beds as of Friday, the most since mid-February, according to the dashboard.

The state’s seven-day rolling average of daily new cases rose over the past two weeks from 2,941 on Aug. 19 to 3,152 on Thursday while the average of daily deaths rose from 18 to 39.3 during the same period, according to Johns Hopkins University data.