COVID-19 Update July 7, 2022: Community Infection High in Nine AZ Counties

Nine counties in Arizona, including Maricopa County, are now reporting high COVID-19 community levels as the Omicron BA.5 subvariant becomes the dominant strain currently sweeping the U.S.

This week there were 20,198 new cases of COVID-19 in Arizona and 57 new deaths since the week prior. This information comes from the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) COVID-19 data dashboard.

According to AZCentral, state health officials said this week’s new case report was higher because of old data being added from a new provider reporting electronically. Of the 20,000 new cases, 3,500 were older and not attributable to last week alone, putting this week in line with prior weeks. However, this week’s positive tests were up to 28%, much higher than any time since the winter surge attributed to the initial wave of the Omicron variant.

Masks are now recommended for public indoor settings in Maricopa, Apache, Coconino, Gila, La Paz, Mohave, Navajo, Pinal and Yavapai counties in accordance with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a press release, ADHS stressed that although these counties reach thresholds for high community levels, there are “far fewer cases” than during the winter surge,

The Omicron subvariant BA.5 has rapidly become the top variant in the U.S. In the last week of June, it made up more than 50% of all new COVID-19 cases, up 10 percentage points from the week prior. Time reports that the lack of protective mandates and mutations in the virus may cause issues in getting the variant under control. Due to a mutation in the spike protein, it may be able to reinfect “almost anyone.”

According to a report in Nature, lab studies demonstrate that people who have immunity from vaccination and a past Omicron BA.1 infection are less resistant to reinfection by either BA.5 or its sibling mutation, BA.4, which currently accounts for 16% of U.S. cases.