The Arizona Department of Health Services says COVID-19 testing reached a 17% positivity rate last week, while Arizona's case rate was over 500 per 100,000 people — five times the number needed for "substantial transmission."
In a video message, director Dr. Cara Christ called on Arizonans to faithfully follow safety guidelines like wearing masks, maintaining social distance and staying home when sick.
"If you don't take these precautions every time you are around people from outside your household, you are taking a risk," she said. "Interacting with just one person who let their guard down might actually represent the risk from dozens of others they interacted with."
Christ said precautions were especially important with the holidays approaching and vaccines still months away for most Arizonans.
