Arizona Passes 25,000 Deaths From COVID-19 Since Pandemic's Start

TUCSON, AZ — More than 25,000 Arizonans have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Of those deaths, 3,273 were in Pima County, according to department statistics.

The department added 18,573 cases across Arizona to its official count on Thursday, along with 10 new deaths.

The official Arizona death total as of Thursday was 25,002, with total cases reported since the start of the pandemic at more than 1,500,000.

So far more than 16 million tests have been administered and recorded in the state, with a 10.8 percent positive rate.

In Pima County alone, 2,575,465 tests have been administered with a positive rate of 8.8 percent.

While case rates are spiking, Arizona still isn't nearing its previous peaks for hospitalization and intensive care bed usage for COVID-19 patients.

As of Wednesday, COVID-19 patients occupied 629 ICU beds, or 38 percent of beds in the state, compared to 1,183 during the last COVID-19 wave a year ago, before vaccinations were widely rolled out.

However, because there are more patients in ICUs overall at the moment, including for conditions other than the coronavirus. There were only 78 ICU beds available across the state as of Wednesday. That's fewer beds available than during last year's spike.

Similarly, while fewer COVID-19 patients are taking up hospital beds outside the ICU than during previous peaks, there are still fewer hospital beds available across the state than during previous peaks. This is because there are more people hospitalized for other conditions besides COVID-19, in addition to the coronavirus patients.

As of Wednesday, there were 2,920 COVID-19 patients in hospital beds across the state, compared to 5,055 during last January's peak. However, during last year's peak around 7 percent of hospital beds were available compared to 5 percent as of Wednesday.