Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Arizona reached 504,423 on Monday, December 28, an increase of 10,086 over the previous day, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. There were 172,481 new cases of COVID-19 in Arizona in December, which means that 34% of the state’s total number of cases since the start of the pandemic has occurred in December alone.
The state has been somewhat effective in fighting the virus for the past four months, but has shown great signs of regression. While July saw an average increase of 3,075 new cases per day, Arizona averaged 877 new cases per day in August, an average of 552 new cases per day in September, but the number rose again to an average of 903 new cases cases a day in October, and Arizona averaged 2,600 new cases a day in November. So far, in December, the state has an average of 6,160 new cases per day.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 cases in Arizona is 8,469 in Arizona, after 42 new deaths reported since yesterday.
“The numbers are still trending in a worrying direction,” said Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, “especially considering that the number of parties and gatherings is expected to increase in the coming weeks.”
This increase is the second in Arizona, which was a national hotspot for the disease this summer, when the increase in cases was attributed to the fact that health protocols were abruptly suspended before Memorial Day weekend, when people gathered for parties and meetings.
Health experts fear that the trend may repeat itself now, as people travel and gather for winter holidays, a threat that could be exacerbated by the regular flu season.
Dr. Daniel Derksen, associate vice president at the University of Arizona Health Sciences, said the vacation trips that many people took this weekend put the state in a dire situation with regard to the number of hospital beds.
“The ripple effect of what is happening now affects not only people who have these serious consequences of COVID-19 infection,” he said, “but it really limits the health system’s ability to manage all the other health problems that continue to occur, along with the onset of the flu season. “
Derksen said the “really scary time” for public health experts will be in the next two to six weeks, when vacation travel will increase again. But the results may be worse and will not be felt only in Arizona.
“It is not just Arizona hospitals that are reaching saturation,” he said. “It’s the whole region.”
Holly Ward, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Hospital and Health Association, said it is not uncommon to see an increase in hospitalizations in the state during the winter, but COVID-19 adds another layer to this dynamic.
“Usually, in the winter months we see an increase in hospitalizations, but now that we have added COVID to that, we are getting dangerously high in the use of beds in the intensive care unit (ICU) that is happening now,” said Ward.
She said that hospitals and health centers as a whole were always ready to receive any patient, no matter what the circumstances, but she encouraged people to do their part not to put pressure on “health heroes”.
“Hospitals exist to care for anyone who comes to us,” she said. “But we are also counting on our community to do their part not to stress the hospital system with a disease that most of us can prevent.”
Local governments across the state have begun to implement – or reimpose – precautions to prevent the virus from spreading, as COVID-19 cases continue to increase in Arizona.
In Payson, Mayor Tom Morrissey reinstated an emergency proclamation requiring people to wear facial coverage in the city until further notice. He said that there is a “mutation factor” in the fluidity of the spread of this virus.
The Tucson City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday night to impose a curfew from 10 pm to 5 am starting this Friday. The curfew, which starts Friday and runs until December 22, will mean that only essential workers can be out during that time.
Tucson’s action was triggered by a memorandum on Friday from the University of Arizona’s COVID-19 Modeling Team that said that without action to stop the spread, Arizona “risks catastrophe on the scale of the worst natural disaster this state ever experienced”.
Ward said the state has learned a lot from the pandemic’s summer wave, which has helped him better prepare for the current resurgence.
“Having experienced an outbreak in the summer, we have established a very significant protocol and preparation as a state system,” she said. “We all have a responsibility, but we all have control over ourselves, for sure, if not the ability to help our family, friends and community, doing what we can to prevent it.”
Derksen said that while effective COVID-19 vaccines are on the horizon, it could take months before they are available to the general public, and that the challenge of administering these doses alone will be “a major logistical effort”.
He said the best thing anyone can do is follow the tried and proven preventive measures repeated by health experts all year round: wear a mask, keep your distance, wash your hands and avoid crowds.
“Help is on the way, but right now, the best measures are the self-help measures you can take,” said Derksen. “You will be exposed if you are not careful.”
COVID-19 is a serious disease that can be fatal for anyone, especially for our elderly population and people with underlying health problems. ADHS advises everyone to take precautions:
The best ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Wear a mask when you are around other people.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with dirty hands.
• Avoid close contact with sick people.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and immediately throw it in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
COVID-19 spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Symptoms are believed to appear within two to 14 days after exposure and consist of fever, cough, runny nose and difficulty breathing. For people with mild illnesses, individuals are asked to stay at home, drink plenty of fluids and rest. For people with more severe symptoms, such as shortness of breath, individuals are advised to seek medical attention.
ADHS activated its Emergency Health Operations Center on January 27, after the first travel-related COVID-19 case was confirmed in Arizona. The Emergency Health Operations Center remains open to coordinate the State’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. For more information on the COVID-19 response in Arizona, visit azhealth.gov/COVID19.
Josh Ortega of Cronkite News contributed to this report.