Maricopa County reported close to 5,000 new coronavirus cases, continuing a trend of case counts rising higher this winter than they had during a first COVID-19 wave during the summer.

The county’s Department of Public Health reported 4,946 cases on Thursday along with 87 deaths as the pandemic’s second wave continued to hit the region.

The higher case counts indicate the county’s seven-day rolling average will continue climbing. It stands at 3,675 average cases per day as of Dec. 13, the latest day for which information is available.

That is the highest level of the pandemic so far, county data show.

The county’s cases have seen a sharp spike during the past few weeks, compared even with the end of November, when cases were coming in about 2,000 per day, according to county records. Total Maricopa County COVID-19 cases now stand at 272,932.

Deaths also are up sharply compared with four weeks ago, and county data trends point to those numbers going higher. The county is averaging 23 deaths per day as of Nov. 30, the last day for which data is available on the seven-day rolling average.

Deaths tend to lag behind new case counts by two to three weeks, and incomplete data from Maricopa County indicates those totals will be rising in the coming weeks.

During the county’s summer spike, cases reached a high of 3,809 cases in a day on June 29. The highest seven-day average for cases reached during the summer was July 2 at 3,199. The highest single day for cases so far during the second wave was Dec. 3 with 4,351.