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Arizona health official says consistent COVID-19 case totals may suggest upcoming plateau

By Vaughan Jones
Published: Sunday, June 19, 2022 - 6:35am

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A positive COVID-19 test
KJZZ
A positive COVID-19 test.


The Arizona Department of Health Services reported more than 16,000 new COVID-19 cases this week, but Deputy Director of Health Services Carla Berg says some of those cases were diagnosed in previous weeks.

Berg says the department is seeing around 14,000 new cases weekly, and that consistency may suggest an upcoming plateau in cases.

“We’re starting to see that trend, maybe, plateau a bit, but we’re still cautious, we still monitor this regularly, to better understand our COVID-19 cases trends that we have,” said Berg.

Despite the appearance of a plateau, Berg says the department is still trying to expect the unexpected.

“Overall, what we are seeing is unpredictability in COVID-19 cases, and so, for that reason, we really want to continue monitoring, looking at our community levels, where we have counties that have more of that impact,” said Berg.

Both Navajo and Apache County are currently at the CDC’s definition of a high community transmission level. Six counties in Arizona, including Maricopa and Pima, are at medium levels.

Berg says hospital availability and staff are much less strained than during the initial omicron surge earlier this year.

She say the department is also encouraged by the approval of COVID-19 vaccines for children between six months and five years old, and that the state should be able to begin administering those shots next week.

Coronavirus Health + Medicine