National COVID-19 cases are trending up, a situation that has been mirrored locally for both Maricopa County and Fountain Hills. The Times began tracking local numbers in late July, with the biggest gains in Maricopa County (15,771 new cases in one week) and Fountain Hills (46 new cases in one week) being reported on Nov. 25.

On a national level, the United States saw a bump in COVID-19 cases and deaths in July and has been on a continuous climb since September. Again, this same trend has been seen on the local level.

On Nov. 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that 12.3 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported in the United States with just over 257,000 deaths. Of those national cases, 302,324 were reported in Arizona and, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services, 196,849 were reported in Maricopa County alone. The second largest number of reported cases in Arizona is Pima County with 37,518, followed by Yuma County with 17,119 and Pinal County with 15,707.

These types of numbers have led national organizations to encourage continued safety practices such as wearing a mask, social distancing, frequently washing hands and avoiding touching one’s face. Gatherings have also been discouraged, with the CDC and other entities speaking against usual holiday travel and get-togethers. Despite that fact, videos of crowded terminals at Sky Harbor airport were shown on national news broadcasts leading into Thanksgiving.

Several vaccines are in various stages of testing and certification, with experts stating that especially vulnerable individuals could start receiving injections before the end of 2020. Concern remains, however, as the traditionally busy Christmas and New Year holidays are right around the corner.

Local numbers

The Times started reporting Maricopa County and Fountain Hills COVID-19 cases in the July 28 edition of the paper. This was at the height of the summer bump. Due to the printing schedule, numbers in each issue were gathered the day before each issue was delivered.

On July 21, Maricopa County had 98,988 reported cases with Fountain Hills at 174. By July 28, those numbers had jumped by 12,558 and 21, respectively, and by Aug. 4 they had gone up another 10,343 and 26.

Gains were much smaller heading into mid-October, with Maricopa County going up by an average of about 2,000 cases per week. Fountain Hills saw a low week on Aug. 25 with just one new reported case, with the weeks following almost exclusively sticking to single digits.

Things started to turn toward the worse on Oct. 13, with Maricopa County going up by 3,093 new cases. Fountain Hills only saw a jump of five cases that week, but then it went up by eight on Oct. 20 and nine on Oct. 27.

The past month, though, numbers have jumped significantly. Nov. 3 saw 5,969 new cases in Maricopa County and 23 in Fountain Hills. Those numbers were 7,937 and 20, respectively, on Nov. 10, and 9,548 and 26 on Nov. 18.

The July 28 bump was handily topped with the Nov. 24 reporting. Maricopa County saw an increase of 15,771 new COVID-19 cases in that one week alone, with Fountain Hills more than doubling its July 28 increase with 46 new cases reported in one week.

Overall, Maricopa County has grown by 95,422 cases since July 28 (194,410 total), with Fountain Hills going up by 236 (410 total).