PHOENIX – In a letter to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, top doctors in Arizona call for more to be done to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Leading doctors and hospital leaders who have fought the COVID-19 pandemic in 16 hospitals have come together to ask Ducey to “institute proven, feasible and improved mitigation efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19”.
The letter states that the spread of COVID-19 by the state community continues to be serious and, with new variants of the coronavirus arriving in the United States, they are seeing an increase in the number of patients admitted to ICUs.
“Clearly stated, these patients are more sick and many are dying from the virus,” said the doctors in the letter.
“Our resources are exhausted and we are struggling to cope with the continuous waves of new patients that we see every day. There is great concern that this is negatively affecting our ability to provide routine and necessary care to our patients. This problem is compounded due to the fact that there have been many confusing messages and misinformation, especially on social networks, which has confused the public and eroded their confidence in public health “, states the letter.
The letter invites Ducey to make the following efforts, “in no particular order of importance:”
- Continue to aggressively expand access to the vaccine.
- Continue to increase your workforce and assist in employee retention in Arizona.
- Support outpatient strategies to decrease the number of patients in need of hospital care.
- Except for essential services, limit public meetings to no more than 25 people.
- Implement a statewide and applicable facial coverage mandate that focuses on business compliance, not individuals.
- Standardize our school’s approach to virus control to allow schools to remain open.
- Follow the testing and quarantine guidelines recommended by the CDC.
- Closing bars and nightclubs and limiting restaurant operations to outside meals and take-away service.
To read the full letter, click here or read below: