By KTAR.COM
The number of new COVID-19 cases in Arizona has sharply declined since topping out about a week ago, one of several signs the state’s omicron spike could be past its peak.
On Jan. 22, the state reported a pandemic-high 27,681 new cases. Two days later, the seven-day average for newly reported cases, which had dipped below 3,000 in late December, peaked at 20,788.
By Sunday, the seven-day average was down to 15,119, 27% lower than the record set six days earlier. And on Monday, the Arizona Department of Health Services reported 12,259 new cases, the second fewest since Jan. 7.
Other data points are also trending downward, but not as steeply as reported cases.
The number of hospital inpatients with COVID was at 3,348 on Sunday, down 6% from the omicron peak of 3,559 reached just three days earlier.
In addition, last week’s percent positivity for diagnostic testing was 29%, down from the pandemic high of 34% recorded the previous week.
ICU use by COVID patients and deaths from the virus, however, continue to lag behind case trends, as has happened throughout the pandemic, and remain at or near the high marks of the omicron wave.
