Arizona's state health department released a trove of new data on Easter Sunday, offering a better look at which people and places are most affected by COVID-19.

While the data doesn't present a complete picture of COVID-19 in the state, it provides more information than Arizona has previously released and brings the state more in line with the amount of data released by other states.

Native Americans, older people and men are dying in disproportionate numbers in Arizona from COVID-19, the data show, although information on the race and ethnicity of cases and deaths is incomplete.

The state says race is unknown for 63% of the new coronavirus cases and 49% of those who have died.

New data reported by hospitals to the state show Arizona is not near capacity in its bed or intensive care units.

Although it released a large amount of new information, the Arizona Department of Health Services did not grant interviews to provide context or explanations for its data.

"We do not have media availability today," department spokesman Chris Minnick said in an email.

Questions remain about the limited data on race and ethnicity, whether other information such as underlying conditions or coronavirus recoveries would be included in future updates, and how the state is using this data to inform its response to the pandemic.

Public health officials have asked Arizonans to do a lot to manage COVID-19, such as stay in their homes and change their daily lives significantly, said Will Humble, the executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association. Providing more information, like the state did Sunday, helps people understand and trust the directives coming from health officials, he said.

"They're doing themselves a favor because people are going to trust all these health departments more when there's more access to information and data like this," Humble said.

Unlike other emergencies that Humble, who formerly led the state health department, has seen, the general public — all of us — plays a role in the response to COVID-19.

"Everyone has a stake in this, and everyone's entitled to the data," he said.

MORE: Republic map shows coronavirus cases by ZIP code, compared with population

Here are some key takeaways from what Arizona's new data shows and what we're still missing that would help us understand the disease and its spread here.

Native Americans disproportionately affected

Native Americans make up 15% of those who have died from COVID-19, among the cases for which race and ethnicity are known, according to data released by the Arizona Department of Health Services. The American Community Survey's 5-year estimates show about 4.6% of Arizonans are American Indian or Alaska Native.

But because the data on race and ethnicity is incomplete, that means an even greater percentage of Native Americans could be dying from the virus. It also means there's no way yet to analyze if other races or ethnicities are disproportionately affected.

The Navajo Nation has been hard hit by the outbreak, with 698 identified cases and 24 confirmed deaths as of Saturday evening. Of the overall cases, 481 involve residents on tribal land in Arizona counties.

The Navajo Nation includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

In other states and cities that have released information on the race and ethnicity of COVID-19 deaths, Black people have been disproportionately affected. That's not readily clear from Arizona's data because of the large percentage classified as unknown.

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Men and older people make up more deaths

While men make up 47% of Arizona's overall COVID-19 cases, they make up 62% of deaths from the disease.

Since the virus first started in Wuhan, China, it has appeared to affect men more profoundly. It's not exactly clear why.

"The question is, what is it about men?" Humble said.

Initially, experts thought the incidence in men could be attributed to higher smoking rates, Humble said. Men also may not go to the doctor as often as women, so if they have underlying conditions, they may not be managing them as well, he said.

COVID-19 is a new disease from a new virus, and our understanding of it is still forming. Studies that could answer some questions about who is more affected and why, such as why men appear to be more affected than women, have not yet been completed.

The new data also show that people over age 65 are more likely to die from the virus than people who are younger. Of the state's 122 deaths, 84 have been in this age category.

Only two people under age 45 has died in Arizona from COVID-19-related illness.

Twelve people age 45 to 54 have died. For those aged 55 to 64, the number of deaths is 24.

Age dovetails with underlying conditions to increase risk for complications and death for people who get COVID-19. Chronic illnesses such as diabetes, lung diseases and heart conditions are noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as conditions that can exacerbate the virus.

But Arizona's data doesn't yet include any information on underlying conditions, so the public is not able to understand how people with these conditions in Arizona are faring.

ZIP code maps now available

The public has pressed the state for more detailed information on the location of COVID-19 cases, and, after weeks, the state has now released a map that includes cases by ZIP code.

State health officials provided precise numbers only in ZIP codes that have more than 10 cases. Of those areas, spots with the highest rates of cases per population included Page and Winslow near the Navajo Nation, a swath of Tucson's south side, and parts of Paradise Valley, north Phoenix and Scottsdale.

Those hot spots, however, probably do not represent the real locations of all those cases. If a patient's residence is unknown, state officials said, the case was mapped to the address of the provider or the reporting facility. Officials did not respond to questions about how many such cases were mapped. And officials said they suppressed data from any ZIP code where more than 50 percent of the population is tribal residents, "pending tribal approval."

Many states have a large number of counties, making data by county a bit more meaningful and drilled down than in Arizona, which has only 15 counties. Maricopa County alone is physically larger than some states.

The matter of ZIP code locations was the subject of a lawsuit from some GOP officials in Pinal County, filed last week.

Hospitals have beds and ventilators

Gov. Doug Ducey issued an executive order on Tuesday that requires hospitals to report more information to the state, such as the number of beds and ventilators.

The state health department has now posted information about several aspects about hospitals' readiness and capacity.

Of about 2,000 intensive care unit beds total, about 1,000 are filled currently. Of about 1,600 emergency department beds, 577 are occupied. Of about 7,500 in-patient beds, about 4,500 are in use. These numbers aren't specific to COVID-19 patients only.

Fewer than 25% of the state's 1,174 available ventilators are in use.

Only three days of numbers are posted for hospitals' COVID-19-specific data, making it currently impossible to discern any trends.

And there's is still no publicly reported information on how many people who have gotten COVID-19 are now recovered.

One of the new pieces of information being reported is the number of positive or suspected COVID-19 patients that are being discharged. April 9 shows 47 discharges, April 10 shows 60 and April 11 shows 53. But a broader number of recoveries cannot be compiled using the information the state has reported.

The state doesn’t have the number of those who have recovered from COVID-19 because if the person was tested at a commercial lab and didn’t require follow-up care, their outcome isn’t known, Arizona Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ said at an April 7 news conference. Later, the state will match cases against data on deaths, which could assess how many recovered from the illness, she said.

“There’s not a great way to look at what a definition of recovered is,” Christ said.

Reach reporter Rachel Leingang by email at rachel.leingang@gannett.com or by phone at 602-444-8157, or find her on Twitter and Facebook.

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