COVID-19 community levels: 3/16/2023

Note: our updates can be a week behind due to our news cycle overlapping with Thursday updates. View the latest CDC and NYTimes updates here.

COVID-19 Community Levels is a tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data.

Other than Apache County, which is at a medium level, all of our synod’s counties are at at low levels: Clark, Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Nye, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Washington, Yavapai, and Yuma.

At all levels including the low level, prevention steps include:

At the medium level, if you are at high risk for severe illness, talk to your healthcare provider about whether you need to wear a mask and take other precautions.

At the high level, wear a mask indoors in public. Additional precautions may be needed for people at high risk for severe illness.

Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area.

Update for March 9

  • Reported cases, hospitalizations and deaths have all decreased nationally in the past two weeks.

  • Hospitalizations have been falling steadily for several weeks and are now just above 25,000 nationwide, the lowest rate seen since May. In some states (including Hawaii and Nevada), hospitalizations are lower than they have been in nearly two years.

  • Test positivity has also fallen quite sharply in the past two weeks. This is a promising sign that the declines in other areas are unlikely to change course in the immediate future.

News, Grand Canyon SynodBrian FlatgardCoronavirusComment