All counties are at extremely high levels of risk for unvaccinated people.

• Extremely high risk counties for unvaccinated people in our synod include Apache, Clark, Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Washington, Yavapai, and Yuma counties.

State of the virus

• Reports of new coronavirus cases in the United States are declining rapidly, though they remain well above the levels seen in any prior surge.

• Deaths continue to increase, with more being announced each day than at any time since last winter. Hospitalizations appear to be reaching a national peak.

• The plunge in cases has been especially stark in Northeastern states that were hit early by the highly infectious Omicron variant. In New York and New Jersey, daily case reports have fallen by roughly two-thirds from their early January peaks.

• Some states have not yet seen significant declines in Omicron infections. Cases remain at or near record levels in Alabama and North Dakota.

• With many people testing themselves on at-home tests, and other infections going undetected, reported cases are an undercount of actual infections, but indicate how the virus is spreading. Case trends help officials, businesses and residents assess risk and make decisions. Hospitalizations show strain on health care systems and can indicate the severity of recent infections.

The New York Times published county-specific guidance for common activities to help you lower your personal risk of getting Covid-19 and to help you protect your community. This advice was developed with public health experts at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies.

“Providing transparent, real time information about what people’s risks are is empowering,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, who is a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the president and C.E.O. of Resolve to Save Lives. “You want to know how hard it’s raining Covid.”