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

According to the CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels, Apache is a high level county.

All other synod counties are low level: Apache, Clark, Coconino, Cochise, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Nye, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Yavapai, Washington, and Yuma.

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

• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines

• Get tested if you have symptoms

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.

State of the virus

Update for November 4

• Cases and hospitalizations are both rising for the first time in several months. These increases are modest so far at the national level, but they have been more pronounced in certain regions.

• In the South and West, several states — including Nevada, New Mexico and Utah — have seen reported cases increase by 50 percent or more over the past two weeks.

• Hospitalizations have increased by 20 percent or more recently in eight states.

• Daily deaths from the coronavirus are still seeing a sustained decline. While still troublingly high, the average number of deaths announced each day recently fell below 350 — a marked improvement from the nearly 500 deaths per day seen for much of the summer.