Arizona reported more than 3,400 new COVID-19 cases and 43 new known deaths on Saturday as hospitalizations for the disease continued to rise to their highest levels

Arizona reported more than 3,400 new COVID-19 cases and 43 new known deaths on Saturday as hospitalizations for the disease continued to rise to their highest levels since August.

The ongoing increase in cases and hospitalizations comes as Arizona’s health system is preparing for the pressures of a new COVID-19 wave as the situation worsens and as Thanksgiving approaches.

Identified COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose by 3,476 on Saturday to 273,053, and known deaths were at 6,300, according to the daily report from the Arizona Department of Health Services.

New cases have eclipsed 1,000 for 17 of the past 21 days, with six of those days seeing more than 2,000 new cases for the first times since the state’s summer surge. Saturday marked the third time the state has reported more than 3,000 new cases in a day since late July. The U.S. has been reporting record-high daily new cases.

The past several weeks have seen relatively higher daily case reports as the virus spreads at its fastest rate in Arizona since June, although case numbers are still below where they were during the summer peak.

New case rates in Arizona fall below the rates reported in 34 other states plus Guam, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Data Tracker says. Cases are surging in North Dakota, where the new case rate per 100,000 people for the previous seven days was 169.2 as of Friday, the CDC reports. By comparison, Arizona’s rate was 27.5.

The increase in new COVID-19 cases in the summer was an early indicator of more hospitalizations and deaths in the weeks to come.

Gov. Doug Ducey, in an Oct. 29 COVID-19 briefing, said Arizonans “need to keep our guard up” but announced no new preventive measures, instead pointing to existing strategies such as restaurant capacity limits.

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The number of patients hospitalized statewide for known or suspected COVID-19 cases was at 14,070 on Friday, the highest number reported since Aug. 12. At the peak of Arizona’s surge in July, the number of hospitalized patients suspected or confirmed to have the virus exceeded 3,000.

The number of patients with suspected or known COVID-19 in intensive care units across Arizona was at 362 on Friday, the most ICU beds in use in a single day since Aug. 23. The level is far below what it was in July, when ICU beds in use for COVID-19 reached 970.

The number of Arizonans with confirmed and suspected COVID-19 on ventilators was at 189 on Friday — the most ventilators in use in a single day since Aug. 25. In mid-July, as many as 687 patients across the state with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 were on ventilators.

Friday’s dashboard shows 88% of inpatient beds and 87% of ICU beds in use, which includes people being treated for COVID-19 and other patients. COVID-19 patients were using 17% of all inpatient beds and 22% of ICU beds. Overall, 33% of ventilators were in use.

Percent positivity, which refers to the percent of COVID-19 diagnostic tests that are positive, has gone up slightly, which many health experts consider an early indicator of a spike in illnesses.