Arizona is scaling back updates of COVID-19 hospitalization data displayed on the state’s coronavirus dashboard in the wake of the diminishing of the outbreak and Gov. Doug Ducey’s recent end of the state of emergency that he declared over two years ago.
Department of Health Services Director Don Herrington said Thursday in a blog post that a surveillance order requiring hospitals to report specific COVID-19 data is no longer in effect.
The end to updates of graphs displaying data on hospital bed usage availability, specific metrics for COVDID-19, and ventilator usage and availability comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations have lessened significantly since the omicron variant’s peak in January, Herrington said.
On March 29, 429 virus patients occupied inpatient beds, compared with over 4,850 in late January, according to the dashboard.
With the end of the emergency declaration, “there are normal changes in operations as public health transitions to its traditional role of disease surveillance, prevention, and control,” Herrington said. “These changes to the dashboard reflect that.”
Ducey lifted the emergency declaration on March 30. It was initially put in place to allow the DHS to coordinate with hospitals and other medical providers to respond to an expected influx of COVID-19 cases.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
