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Rising Covid cases leave Arizona ‘headed toward exponential growth,’ expert warns

Posted at 9:13 AM, Oct 15, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-15 19:24:46-04

PHOENIX — A prominent health expert expressed worry Wednesday about rising Covid-19 numbers across Arizona, saying the trend is reminiscent of early summer conditions that preceded a spike in cases and rollback of measures to reopen businesses.

“This is a moment to sort of stop and take measure and think hard about: What can we do to prevent this?” said Joshua LaBaer, executive director of Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, which is tracking case trends across Arizona’s 15 counties, as well as in the state overall and the nation.

LaBaer said 902 new cases were reported Wednesday morning by the Arizona Department of Health Services, and “we haven’t seen that in a while.” One week ago, that daily number of new cases was 786.

The count continued to climb on Thursday, when AZDHS reported 1,113 new cases -- our first day with more than 1,000 new positive cases reported since September 18.

ABC15 data analyst Garrett Archer said the positivity rate has also continued to rise, especially in Arizona's rural counties. Track latest Covid numbers here.

Read the full story at Phoenix Business Journal.