Brutal benchmark: Arizona passes 1 million COVID-19 cases
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona surpassed 1 million COVID-19 cases Friday, becoming the 13th state to reach the grim milestone while contending with yet another major spike in infections.
The benchmark is the latest in a tumultuous year and a half where Arizona went from being touted as a pandemic success story to being “the hot spot of the world” and then being a model again when vaccinations became available. Now, the state, like the rest of the country, is coping with a surge — mostly of the unvaccinated — and ongoing conflicts over mask and vaccine mandates.
It ranks 13th nationwide in the number of cases per 100,000 residents, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Data Tracker.
COVID-19 came early to Arizona.