The latest information from the Arizona Department of Health Services indicates that 3,240 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the state, alongside 83 deaths.

Even as the statewide vaccination rate has ticked past 60 percent, thousands of new cases continue to be confirmed daily as the coronavirus pandemic has passed the 20-month threshold. Maricopa County remains the state’s hardest-hit county — over 1,600 of the new COVID-19 case total were discovered in Arizona’s most-populous county.

Cases have surpassed the one-million mark in the state, while nationwide, the figures are even more stark. New York Times tracking data reports there have been 47 million confirmed cases since the pandemic began in the United States, with COVID-19 killing more than 763,000 Americans.

The New York Times’s data shows there has been a 20 percent increase in Arizona’s COVID hospitalizations over the past 14 days, not to mention an 18 percent boost in the overall cases.

CDC guidelines continue to maintain that fully-vaccinated people living in high-transmission areas, or living with weakened immune systems, should mask up while indoors around others. The CDC further insists upon the COVID-19 vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, and booster shot eligibility has been revised, making it more readily-available across the country. The third dose has been approved and rolled out for the Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.