As of January 26, 2023
Updated once a week on Friday
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a new set of metrics to determine COVID-19 Community Level – low, medium or high. Pima County's status is reflected in the graphic on the right.
The CDC looks at the combination of three metrics to determine the COVID-19 community level, which is updated every Thursday:
- New COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past seven days
- The percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients
- Total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days.
New COVID-19 admissions and the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied represent the current potential for strain on the health system. Data on new cases acts as an early warning indicator of potential increases in health system strain in the event of a COVID-19 surge.
The Pima County Health Department further tracks percent positivity of reported COVID-19 cases in Pima County, timely case investigation, and vaccination coverage for age-eligible people (5 years and older) to determine guidance and best practices locally.
More information on these criteria is below.
What does COVID-19 Community Level mean?
The CDC updates COVID-19 Community Levels every Thursday as a tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take. 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.
Check out the latest data and what the CDC recommends as preventive steps according to each COVID-19 level
What does COVID-19 Transmission Level mean?
The transmission level of COVID-19 in a community is determined by two metrics tracked by the CDC: Total new cases per 100,000 persons in the past seven days, and percentage of test results that are positive during the past seven days. Public health practitioners, schools, businesses, and community organizations also rely on these metrics to inform decisions about prevention measures.
Find seven-day data on Pima County cases and positivity rate at the CDC.
Disease Metrics
Tracking information about cases and percent positivity helps us understand changes to the activity of COVID-19 in Pima County. These measures may indicate when COVID-19 spread is slowing in the community – whether naturally or as a result of the actions being taken to prevent the spread of the disease.
In order to ensure that the data used to inform this report is as complete as possible while still being timely, disease data below reflects the weekly data for the previous seven days from the day the of updating.
COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days
Click to expand for Disease Metrics criteria
COVID-19 cases per 100K people in the past seven days
Criteria Met – The number of new cases is less than 200 cases/100,000/week.
Not Met – The number of new positive cases is more than 200 cases/100,000/week.
Tracking Source – CDC Community Level
Percent Positivity (the number of positive test results divided by tests completed)
Criteria Met – Two weeks with percent positivity less than 5%.
Not Met – Two weeks with percent positivity above 5%.
Tracking Source –
CDC Community Level
Healthcare System Availability
Determined by number of new admissions and inpatient bed metrics based on the current level of new cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days
New COVID-19 admissions per 100k in previous seven days
Percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by a COVID-19 patient
Click to expand for Healthcare System Availability criteria
New COVID-19 admissions per 100k in previous seven days
Criteria Met – The number of new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 in the previous seven days is less than 10.
Not Met – The number of new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 in the previous seven days is greater than 10.
Tracking Source – CDC Community Level
Percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by a COVID-19 patient
Criteria Met – Seven-day average percentage of inpatient beds occupied by a COVID-19 patient is less than 10%.
Not Met – Seven-day average percentage of inpatient beds occupied by a COVID-19 patient is greater than 10%.
Tracking Source – CDC Community Level
Public Health Tracing and Prevention
This set of tracking points helps us understand the capacity of our local public health system’s ability to quickly identify, investigate, and conduct surveillance of new cases and outbreaks of COVID-19 in our community and provide appropriate follow-up care to hospitalized patients.
Timely case investigation
Five years and older with complete initial vaccine series
Click to expand for Public Health Tracing & Prevention criteria
Timely case investigation
Criteria Met – 75% or more of the first 200 priority cases per day that meet criteria for case investigation have been contacted within 48 hours of public health department notification.
Not Met – Less than 75% of the first 200 priority cases per day that meet criteria for case investigation have been contacted within 48 hours of public health department notification.
Five years and older with complete initial vaccine series
Criteria Met
– Percentage of county population age 5 and older with complete initial vaccine series is 70% or more.
Not Met – Percentage of county population age 5 and older with complete initial vaccine series is less than 70%.