Log in

COVID-19 PANDEMIC

New weekly COVID-19 cases in Litchfield Park back up as total count nears 950

Posted 10/23/20

The number of new weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Litchfield Park jumped to 39 this week after falling to 27 last Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the 85340 ZIP code to just under 950.

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor
COVID-19 PANDEMIC

New weekly COVID-19 cases in Litchfield Park back up as total count nears 950

Posted

The number of new weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Litchfield Park jumped to 39 this week after falling to 27 last Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the 85340 ZIP code to just under 950.

The Arizona Department of Health Services reported the number of COVID-19 cases in Litchfield Park 85340 was 943 as of Friday, Oct. 23, a 4.31% increase over last Friday and 0.75% increase over Thursday.

For more details on how the number of new weekly cases have fluctuated since Sept. 25, when just six were reported, read the story here.

The 85340 ZIP code includes the city of Litchfield Park and unincorporated Maricopa County. The state does not separate cases by incorporated and unincorporated areas.

Maricopa County benchmarks also continued moving in the wrong direction; for details, see community transmission data below.

The agency said more than 90% of cases were mapped to the address of the patient’s residence:

Litchfield Park 85340

Cases as of Oct. 16: 904
Cases as of Oct. 17: 914
Cases as of Oct. 18: 919
Cases as of Oct. 19: 921
Cases as of Oct. 20: 922
Cases as of Oct. 21: 926
Cases as of Oct. 22: 936
Cases as of Oct. 23: 943

To see full numbers across the state, click here.

Maricopa County benchmarks data

ADHS tracks the level of community transmission of COVID-19 as part of its three benchmarks for business and school reopenings, updating its benchmarks data dashboard on Thursdays.

The benchmarks — number of cases per 100,000 people, percent positivity of tests and percentage of people hospitalized with COVID-like illnesses — are divided into three categories: substantial, moderate and minimal.

Substantial transmission: more than 100 cases per 100,000 people, 10% or higher test positivity and more than 10% hospitalizations.
Moderate transmission: 10 to 100 cases per 100,000 people, 5% to 10% test positivity and 5% to 10% hospitalizations.
Minimal transmission: Fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 people, less than 5% test positivity and fewer than 5% hospitalizations.

Figures are about 12 days old to allow for lags in reporting, ADHS states on the website. All three benchmarks must be met for 14 days to move from a higher transmission phase to a lower one.

READ: Litchfield Park eases COVID-19 relief grant requirements

This week’s community transmission: Moderate

As of Thursday, Oct. 22, the dashboard categorized Maricopa County’s community transmission as Moderate, based on data collected Sept. 27 and Oct. 4:

Cases per 100,000 people: 70 Oct. 4 / 52 Sept. 27
Test positivity: 4.6% Oct. 4 / 3.9% Sept. 27
COVID-like hospitalizations: 2.5% Oct. 4 / 2.4% Sept. 27

To view the benchmarks dashboard, click here.

Benchmarks for businesses

Per ADHS, if community transmission is substantial, bars and nightclubs, gyms and fitness center, water parks and tube operators must remain closed.

If transmission is moderate, bars and nightclubs providing dine-in services, movie theaters, water parks and tube operators can operate at 50% capacity. Gyms and fitness centers can operate at 25% capacity. Bars and nightclubs that do not serve food cannot reopen.

If transmission is minimal, all bars and nightclubs, movie theaters, water parks, tube operators, gyms and fitness centers can operate at 50% capacity if the percent positivity is below 3%.

Benchmarks for schools

There are two main components for reopening Arizona schools for in-person instruction: quality of the school’s mitigation plan, or how it will minimize the spread of COVID-19; and the degree of community transmission outlined above.

AZDHS recommended that county-specific public health benchmarks fall within the moderate or minimal spread category in all three benchmarks for two weeks to provide hybrid learning (some students in physical buildings and some students distance learning), specifically:

  • A two-week decline in the number of cases or two weeks with new case rates below 100 per 100,000 threshold
  • Two weeks with less than 7% test positivity
  • Two weeks with less than 10% COVID-like illness hospitalizations

READ: ER doctor offers pandemic Halloween safety tips

Maricopa County overview

As of Oct. 23, the state reported the following in Maricopa County:

Countywide cases: 152,695 (148,612 last Friday); 594 new from the previous day (460 new last Friday)
Rate of cases per 100,000 people: 3,495.9 (3,402.4 last Friday)
Deaths: 3,536 (3,500 last Friday); zero new since the previous day (11 new last Friday)
Fatality rate per 100,000 people: 80.96 (80.13 last Friday)
Number of tests conducted: 1,201,968 (1,154,323 last Friday); 7,753 new from the previous day (6,069 new last Friday)
Test positivity: 10.8% (11.0% last Friday)

To view the data dashboard and statewide information on cases by age, ethnicity and gender; hospital and ventilator usage and availability, and hospital-specific COVID-19 metrics, click here.