Despite Drop, Arizona 'Not Out Of The Woods' On COVID-19 Surge
Download mp3 (10.21 MB)Arizona health officials added 5,321 new coronavirus cases and one additional death to the daily dashboard Jan. 25. And there is often a reporting lag in new numbers over the weekend.
At the same time, hospitalizations continue to decline, with suspected cases at their lowest level in almost a month. ICU bed usage overall remains at 91%.
In a sign that virus transmission may be slowing, the state’s transmission rate — known as “r-naught” — fell below 1 over the weekend.
"The number of new cases per day is stabilizing. I think it’s too early to say it's getting better. I think you can say it’s no longer getting worse day to day. Same thing with new hospitalizations, I would say they’re stabilizing," said Will Humble, the executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association.
Humble also says deaths will continue to accelerate at least through the end of the month.
He says about 20,000 Arizonans a day are building immunity against the virus. Unfortunately, Humble says only half of them are through the vaccine. The other half are by infection.
The Show spoke more about all of this with Dr. Shad Marvasti, the director of Public Health and Prevention at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix. And he said, despite these numbers, it's still too early to tell if Arizona’s numbers are trending downward.
