Pence arrives in Arizona as state hits new virus records

PHOENIX (AP) — A masked Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Arizona on Wednesday as the state leads the nation in the rate of new coronavirus cases.

Gov. Doug Ducey, also wearing a mask, greeted Pence with an elbow bump at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. He also bumped elbows with others traveling with the vice president, including Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Rear Admiral John Polowczyk, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

The group then walked a short distance to a small airport building where Pence was scheduled to hear from Phoenix-area health officials.

The visit by Pence comes as Arizona broke its own records in newly reported COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, emergency room visits and deaths.

There have been roughly 558 new cases reported per 100,000 people in Arizona over the past two weeks, ranking the state first in the country for new cases per capita, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Arizona health officials reported 4,878 new confirmed cases — a number comparable to recent daily case totals in larger states such as Florida and California, which have three to six times as many people as Arizona.

Other alarming new highs in Arizona included 2,876 hospitalizations and 1,289 ER visits for positive or suspected virus infections. The number of reported deaths in a day also hit a new record of 88, but that may include health officials reviewing death certificates for links to COVID-19.

The new data brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Arizona to 84,092 and the total number of related deaths to 1,720.

Pence has no public events on his schedule, which has him on the ground in Phoenix for only about 2 1/2 hours before he returns to Washington.

The hastily arranged Phoenix trip is a replacement for...