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Arizona posts highest coronavirus cases since early August

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PHOENIX — Arizona logged 1,392 coronavirus cases on Sunday, the highest number since August 7, according to data compiled by ABC15.

Also alarming is that the large number was reported on a Sunday, which is typically the second-lowest reporting day of the week according to ABC15 data analyst Garrett Archer.

"One of two things are happening. Either we're going to be looking at much higher numbers next week, or there's sort of an administrative or behavior pattern happening in what the AZDHS is reporting or how they're reporting," Archer said.

As of Sunday, the Arizona Department of Health (AZDHS) has not indicated that there are changes in the way that they report data that would cause case numbers to rise. Arizona's total number of cases to 238,163.

The spike positive results are driven by young people, with those under 20 years old showing the highest case growth, according to Archer's analysis.

The state reported that five more people have died from the virus, bringing that total to 5,874. Archer says Arizona has had three weeks of increased cases, but we won't know if that results in an increase in deaths for another two weeks.

"So two weeks from now, if our deaths start to increase, then we can attribute it to this case surge. If deaths still remain level in about two weeks, then, you know, we can start looking at what is it that's different out there aside from it just being younger populations being impacted?" he said.