With a warning about higher numbers because of advances in testing, Arizona health authorities reported 1,753 new coronavirus cases and 38 additional deaths on Thursday morning.
That put the state’s documented totals at 211,660 COVID-19 infections and 5,409 deaths, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Thursday’s case report, which was about 1,000 higher than the previous day and the largest since Aug. 1, included results from recent months of a newly authorized type of diagnostic test, according to a blog post from Health Director Dr. Cara Christ.
Christ said to expect higher case reports over the next few days because of the changes following a fourth antigen testing process getting Food and Drug Administration authorization recently.
Antigen testing (not to be confused with antibody, or serology, tests that detect past infections) isn’t as accurate at the predominant PCR diagnostic testing, Christ said, but it provides fast results.