Brutal benchmark: Arizona passes 1 million COVID-19 cases

By TERRY TANG and JONATHAN J. COOPER
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona surpassed 1 million COVID-19 cases Friday. There are now more than a dozen states that have crossed the grim threshold as the nation wrestles with yet another major spike in infections. The benchmark is the latest in a tumultuous year-and-a-half where Arizona went from being touted as a pandemic success story to being “the hot spot of the world” and then being a model again when vaccinations became available. Now, the state, like the rest of the country, is coping with a surge _ mostly of the unvaccinated _ and ongoing conflicts over mask and vaccine mandates.