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Last week, cases in this age group increased by 340 in Pima County, Garcia said during a news conference.

When he checked Tuesday morning there were six pediatric patients reported to be in local hospitals because of COVID-19.

The county Health Department has identified 1,235 school-related cases since July, and Garcia said 鈥渢he vast majority of them are in that age group of less than 12.鈥�

More than 4,000 people in school settings have been recommended to quarantine due to exposure, and 50 outbreaks were identified in county schools last week, he said.

The chief medical officer said the county鈥檚 overall case count increased by 2,065 last week. For the 12 to 19 age group, 242 new cases were added, while the greatest growth occurred in 20- to 44-year-olds with 858 additional cases.

Garcia says there are several factors driving up school-based cases this year: the highly contagious delta variant, more kids returning to school in-person and the inability of schools to implement mitigation measures because of state restrictions.

The Legislature passed a law prohibiting school boards from requiring masks, although a court has determined that law doesn鈥檛 go into effect until Sept. 29. Although the Pima County Board of Supervisors has agreed to aid school districts in any legal trouble, some still aren鈥檛 requiring masks.

When the back-to-school process commenced last year, 鈥渢he schools had complete liberty to implement whatever mitigation strategies they wanted to,鈥� Garcia said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really different from the reality that we鈥檙e living now, which is many more children in the classroom, a very highly transmissible variant and a population of very vulnerable children, that is, children who are not vaccine age-eligible.鈥�

Overall, Garcia said the percentage of cases in schools with mask requirements tends to be lower.

鈥淲hen we look at the number of cases, (schools with masking requirements) are the school districts that, right now, are having a lower infection rate,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o we do believe that mask mandates in schools actually have an impact.鈥�

Hospitalizations may plateau

About 20% of the county鈥檚 ICU beds are being used by COVID-19 patients, and Garcia said he鈥檚 鈥渘ot concerned about ICU bed capacity at this time.鈥�

鈥淥ther counties are experiencing way higher ICU utilization on the part of COVID patients,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 too early to sort of claim victory, and I鈥檓 certainly not doing that. But the overall trend looks like we may be starting to plateau at the very least.鈥�

On Tuesday, the CDC reported 63% of those 12 and older eligible to receive a vaccine have been fully vaccinated while 73% have received at least one dose. Garcia says this could be influencing the county鈥檚 ability to handle COVID-19 hospitalizations.

鈥淚n general, our vaccination effort continues to track well, and I believe that we continue to be in good shape,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 believe that is part of the reason why we are not seeing a greater impact in terms of our hospitalization numbers.鈥�

Error in state COVID numbers

Cases reported so far in August have more than doubled the number of cases reported in July, according to data from the Arizona Department of Health Services.

But the state health department reported an unusually low level of COVID-19 cases across the state Tuesday due to a data-processing issue. As a result, Wednesday鈥檚 case counts will be 鈥渁rtificially high,鈥� the department鈥檚 interim Director Don Herrington explained in a .

鈥淭he unfortunate trend is that COVID-19 cases and deaths are up since mid-July. In addition, nearly all cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are occurring among those who aren鈥檛 fully vaccinated,鈥� Herrington said.