PHOENIX — Updated data from Maricopa County on Thursday showed that the current community spread of COVID-19 is higher in suburban neighborhoods in both the eastern and western parts of the Valley, compared to other parts of the county.
Maricopa County updates its dashboard every Thursday. An analysis of zip code data by ABC15 found that neighborhoods surrounding Interstate 10 and the US 60, spanning the length of the metro area, consistently had higher per capita case numbers than the northern section of the metro. Rates in some East and West Valley suburbs were double or triple that of north Phoenix suburbs.
ABC15 found that when grouping zip codes into five different regions, the East Valley has the highest average per capita rate followed by the West Valley.
Phoenix zip codes, which sit in between the two, came in at third.
Vaccination rates published by the county show that East and West Valley suburbs have lower average per capita vaccination rates than zip codes in Phoenix and the northeastern suburbs.
The zip code with the highest per capita rate in Maricopa County is 85256, which encompasses the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. COVID-19 cases increased 2,285% here since the last week of November, from 209 to 4,988 cases per capita.
The neighboring Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation tribal lands had the second-highest per-capita rate at 3,603 cases, an increase of 1,367% since late November.
This contrasts with zip codes like Sun City’s 85351 which only reports 685 per capita cases and a growth rate of 233% since late November.
Ten of the county’s 128 zip codes are experiencing COVID-19 growth rates over 1,000%, while 81 of them have growth above 500%.
The smallest increases are occurring in the New River zip code of 85087.
Maricopa County’s community spread dashboard also gives COVID-19 rates by city and school district boundaries.