Arizona has become “the hottest hot spot” for COVID-19, as the state experiences the highest case rates in the world and records hospitalizations, and health officials warn that the numbers will only get worse due to holiday meetings.
Arizona on Thursday reported 9,909 new cases of COVID-19 and 297 new deaths, the highest figure in a day, though the state health department pointed out most were due to the “death certificate matching process.”
Arizona has the worst COVID-19 case rates worldwide, according to 91-divoc.com, a COVID-19 tracker. The state currently has an average of seven days of COVID-19 infections per capita in any region of the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Arizona also leads the country in hospitalization rates, according to The COVID Tracking Project. On Thursday, 4,920 hospitalizations were reported, the highest number for the fourth day in a row.
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Statewide, 7% of intensive care beds were available as of Wednesday, according to data from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Banner Health treats about half of all COVID-19 patients in Arizona, officials said. The situation in the state “is more than worrying,” Dr. Marjorie Bessel, head of the hospital system’s clinic, said Wednesday.
“Arizona state hospitals are stretched very thin right now, despite a considerable amount of preparation and work to increase capacity,” Bessel said.
Banner Health canceled elective surgeries at all of its Arizona hospitals on Jan. 1. Its occupancy in Arizona exceeds 100% of its licensed bed capacity, Bessel said Wednesday, though staffing is the system’s main concern.
“We believe we can create beds,” he said. “It’s the skilled staff, this expert nurse, this wonderful doctor, this incredibly diligent respiratory therapist, these are the people who are lying very thin right now. And there aren’t that many more across the country because they’re deployed to everyone and each of the states trying to meet the demands of each community. “
Bessel predicts that hospitalizations will only get worse in the coming weeks due to “the stackable effect of Thanksgiving, Christmas activities and New Year’s Eve.”
Waiting times are another concern, as hospitals may need to receive patients in the emergency room because there are no staffed nursing or hospital room beds available.
“The wait can be from a few hours to more than 24 to 48 hours in the emergency department until we can move someone from the emergency department to a hospital bed,” said Dr. Michael White, head Valleywise Health clinician in Maricopa County said during a press conference Wednesday.
Mitigation and compliance requests
Because Arizona has become the “hottest hot spot for COVID,” Bessel urges residents to “shrink your circle” only to people in their household, to wear a mask with people outside their circle, and to “stop attending meetings without a mask even if you feel good.”
“It’s very likely that someone at these meetings will have the virus and pass it on to you,” he said, noting that monitoring the contract is not beneficial because COVID-19 “is so out of control in our state.”
“We need each of you to do your part so that hospitals can remain open and accessible to all those who need health care,” he added.
The health official also called for an increase in mitigation measures, such as a state mask mandate, curfew and stopping of the indoor dining room and the implementation of existing measures.
The state has not issued any mask warrants, although several cities and counties have done so. According to a recent investigation by the Republic of Arizona, no appointments have been issued to dispense with mask orders in Tucson, Flagstaff or the 12 largest cities in the Phoenix area.
Gov. Doug Ducey has also called on local governments to implement measures.
“There are steps underway, and if many of these leaders who were looking for and calling for additional action would really comply and take responsibility around the steps that already exist, we can further reduce their spread and save lives,” Ducey said. say last month at a press conference.
In a Jan. 3 report obtained by ABC News, the White House coronavirus task force said post-Arizona vacation figures “raise significant concerns” about the community release of COVID-19 and recommended a “combination of aggressive mitigation with other restrictions and substantial acceleration of vaccines.”
The Republican governor has not tightened restrictions despite calls to do so.
“In the face of strict mitigation measures and states that have few or minimal mitigation measures, they all experience the same thing,” Ducey spokesman CJ Karamargin told the Associated Press this week. “The mitigation measures that the state of Arizona put in place earlier on – remain in place. We urge all Arizona people to follow them.”
Focus on vaccinations
The state has prioritized vaccination to combat the pandemic.
“The vaccine will save millions of lives in the future, and that’s our goal today,” Ducey said last month.
More than 113.00 people as of Thursday, including front-line medical workers and residents and nursing facility staff, have been vaccinated in Arizona, according to the state Department of Health.
The goal is to vaccinate about 3.5 million people, officials said.
Staffing is a concern at vaccination sites, Bessel said. Banner Health operates three vaccination sites statewide and requires hundreds of staff and volunteers every day. Bessel herself has been re-installed several times in the Banner Health vaccination bag at the Arizona state fairgrounds to administer vaccines, a spokesman told ABC News.
“We stretch as much as we can because we believe it [the] the vaccine is the way out of the pandemic, ”he said.
Volunteers trained by the Arizona National Guard began administering the COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday and supporting Arizona vaccination sites, officials said. They include retired medical professionals and people with medical training.
“When people saw us here, they wanted to step up and volunteer, which is exactly what we need,” said U.S. Army Colonel Tom Leaper, a state surgeon for the Arizona National Guard. , a subsidiary of Phoenix ABC, KNXV. “We were contacted by a group of volunteers who said they wanted to help protect their state and their communities, and what they can do to help.”
For now, it’s “critically important” that people continue to distance themselves socially, White said.
“Even though the vaccine is starting to be distributed in our community, it will be months before we can reduce our restrictions,” he said. “If we don’t continue to do this, we run the risk of overflowing our clinical departments and our hospitals.”
Josh Margolin, Brian Hartman and Eric Strauss of ABC News contributed to this report.