Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Arizona on Aug. 15 – 12news.com KPNX

Intense debate continues to rage in some school districts with plans to open classrooms on Monday.

PHOENIX In an effort to track the changes with the coronavirus outbreak in Arizona, 12 News has started a daily live blog.

Here is the live blog for Saturday, Aug. 15.

COVID-19 cases reported in Arizona on Saturday

There have been192,654confirmed cases of coronavirus and4,492 coronavirus-related deaths reported in Arizona, according to the state's latest numbers.

That is an increase from191,721cases and 4,423coronavirus-related deaths reported as of Friday.

A week ago, there were 186,107cases and4,137deaths reported in Arizona.

Benchmark data for potential school reopenings released

Maricopa County has made the benchmark data recommended by the state to decide is schools should reopen classrooms.

Local school districts will be guided to reopen by the number of coronavirus cases in their county per capita, the percent of positive cases from testing and the percentage of people hospitalized with COVID-like illnesses.

AZDHS released the plan last week as Gov. Doug Ducey's order to keep classrooms closed expires on Monday. After that, school districts can decide when to open, but Arizona Superintended Kathy Hoffman highly recommends schools follow the state guidelines.

No county in Arizona meets the state's recommendations to reopen schools.

Even still, the Queen Creek School District approved a plan to reopen campuses on Monday, August 17 in a move that's fueled pushback from teachers.

Ducey says jobless Arizonans will get $300-a-week boost in benefits after Trump action

Gov. Ducey announced a plan to give jobless Arizonans a $300-a-week boost Friday. Arizona's unemployment benefits are the second-lowest in the nation at $240.

The CARES Acted provided an additional $600 per week benefit, but it expired late last month.

Now the maximum weekly check is $540 per week through Dec. 6, or until FEMA money runs out.

Free masks available for some Arizonans

The Arizona Department of Health Services announced that some Arizonans would be able to get free masks from the state.

The department partnered with Hanes to provide free face masks to Arizonas most vulnerable populations.

Anyone who is part of a vulnerable population (including, but not limited to, individuals with medical conditions or individuals age 65 or older) is able to get a free mask.

Each other will provide five washable, reusable cloth face masks, one order per household.

The department hopes to give out two million cloth face masks.

Anyone with questions can visit the department's FAQs page or contact Hanes at 1-800-503-6698.

Arizona releases ZIP code locations of coronavirus cases, other data

The Arizona Department of Health Services has released expanded data points regarding coronavirus cases in the state.

The AZDHS website now features the location of confirmed cases in Arizona by zip code.

You can see the current ZIP code map hereand can find yours by clicking around or searching for your ZIP code in the top right of the map.

More information on coronavirus cases from Saturday

There have been 192,654 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 4,492 coronavirus-related deaths reported in Arizona.

That is an increase from 191,721 cases and 4,423 coronavirus-related deaths reported as of Friday.

There were 933 new cases reported on Saturday, an increase from the 928 new cases reported on Friday.

There were 69 new deaths reported on Saturday, an increase from the 40 new deaths reported on Friday.

There were 5,482 cases reported on the collection date of June 29, the day with the most collected diagnoses so far. That is subject to change.

Health officials said the day with the highest number of reported deaths was July 17, when 94 people died. That is subject to change.

In total, 10,966 new tests were reported on Saturday, a decrease from the 11,242 new tests reported on Friday.

There have been a total of 1,325,778 PCR and Serology tests reported to the state as of Saturday.

12.2% of those tests have been positive as of Saturday, the same as Friday.

Here's a county breakdown:

Click on the links below to find more information from each county's health department:

COVID-19 is believed to be primarily spread through coughs or sneezes.

It may be possiblefor the virus to spread by touching a surface or object with the virus and then a person touching their mouth, nose or eyes, but this is not thought to be the main method of spread, the CDC says.

You should consult your doctor if you traveled to an area currently affected by COVID-19 and feel sick with fever, cough or difficulty breathing.

There is no vaccine for the coronavirus, so the best way to prevent COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases is to:

You can text FACTS to 602-444-1212 to receive more information on the coronavirus and to ask questions.

Link:

Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Arizona on Aug. 15 - 12news.com KPNX