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, there are no longer any low-level counties in our synod.

High level counties are Apache, Greenlee, Navajo, Pima, and Santa Cruz,

Medium level counties include Clark, Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Nye, Pinal, Washington, Yavapai, 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 December 1

• Cases, hospitalizations and test positivity are all rising at the national level, suggesting that the relative stability seen this fall could be coming to an end.

• Daily case and death data are subject to fluctuations around Thanksgiving that do not affect other metrics. It is therefore particularly concerning to see hospitalizations and test positivity — the most reliable data at this time of year — rising sharply.

• Most states have seen hospitalizations increase in the past two weeks. In Californiaand New Mexico, these increases have been especially pronounced.

• Deaths so far have run counter to this upward trend. The average number of deaths reported each day has fallen by seven percent in recent weeks, to around 260.