Doug Ducey on Thursday capped restaurants at half of their capacity but declined to shut them down entirely as he looks to beat back one of the world’s largest outbreaks of the coronavirus.
Ducey also said the state will increase testing with a focus on low-income areas of Phoenix as many people report it’s hard or impossible to find tests. Most people are waiting up to a week or more for test results.
He encouraged people to continue sacrificing, noting the early signs of potential improvement nearly two weeks after he ordered the closure of bars and gyms and urged people to stay home whenever possible.
Arizona continues to report record highs for hospitalizations and use of ventilators. After a drop in the number of additional cases reported in the early part of the week, they shot back above 4,000 on Thursday.
“We are seeing some better results,” Ducey, a Republican, said during a televised news conference. “We need to see more. But the actions we took 10 days ago are making a difference. We need to increase this difference.”
The Department of Health Services reported 75 additional deaths, increasing state’s total to 2,038. The additional 4,057 confirmed cases reported Thursday brought the total to 112,671. The state’s case count doubled in two weeks.
Arizona has emerged as a national hot spot since Ducey loosened stay-home restrictions in mid-May, drawing national attention to the state and Ducey’s response to the outbreak.
“I hear the criticism and I know that there are differing opinions out there on how Arizona has handled this virus,” Ducey said. He said his decisions aren’t influenced by criticism in the press or by political considerations.
Several Democratic mayors immediately pushed Ducey to do more. The mayors of Tucson, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Tolleson and Tempe said he could mandate masks statewide; boost testing, contact tracing and isolation options for people who test positive; and close more businesses including indoor dining and hair and nail salons.
Ducey said he developed his plan to limit restaurant capacity in conjunction with industry representatives. His action fell short of the complete closure of dine-in services he implemented during the spring, which lifted May 15. Many restaurants were already limiting their own capacity to allow for social distancing, a key requirement of Ducey’s earlier reopening plan.
Under pressure from Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and others, the federal government will offer up to 5,000 tests per day at two sites in Maryvale and South Phoenix, areas where low-income residents and people of color have reported hourslong waits in the heat to get tests. Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire, head of the Arizona National Guard and the state’s emergency management agency, said he’s hopeful the testing sites will open on July 16.
He said Arizona State University is preparing to offer a free saliva-based test, which will avoid the invasive nasal swab testing that most people get.
The governor also announced an initiative to boost testing by a private lab to 35,000 per day by the end of the month and 65,000 a day by Aug. 31. The state currently tests around 15,000 samples a day.
Arizona’s per-capita testing is among the lowest in the country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
On Thursday a mile-long line of cars waited in triple digit heat for a COVID-19 test at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix. The two-day testing event was organized by the nonprofit HeroZona Foundation to target underserved neighborhoods where people may not have insurance. The group held a testing event there last weekend with people waiting as long as 13 hours. This time, they have doubled the number of testing stations to four.
“Based off of Arizona’s spike, I don’t think there’s nobody in the country that can get everybody in at one time. Especially for free testing, it’s probably gonna be impossible to get everybody who shows up,” said Alan “AP” Powell, HeroZona’s founder. But with the added testing days, “they can come back.”
The nonprofit will have testing from Tuesday through Friday until Aug. 7.
Gallego said Phoenix is “desperate” for the federal government to send more tests to help stop the virus’ spread.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
The state had a record 3,437 patients hospitalized as of Wednesday, with a record 575 of those on ventilators. The 861 patients in ICU beds and the number of 1,980 emergency room visits for the disease were just short of records set this week, according to Department of Health Services figures.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
In other developments:
— The state Department of Health Services has waived more than a dozen hospital regulations, approving a request by a state healthcare organization to increase flexibility during the coronavirus pandemic.
Requirements that were waived include rules involving the posting of patient rights and the prohibiting of seclusion of patients except in emergencies or in behavioral health settings, the Arizona Republic reported.
Hospitals also asked to waive a requirement so that if “hard choices must be made to save patients,” those choices won’t be grounds to allege a patient has been abused or neglected.
The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association also requested that requirements that patients not be discriminated against based on race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status or diagnosis also be waived.
The state did not approve either request.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
