Hospitals across Arizona, a state of over 7 million people, spent a six-week lockdown and a nearly two-month ban on elective surgeries getting ready for the surge that’s appearing now. They polished emergency plans that require them to ensure they can increase capacity by 50%. They stocked up on masks and gowns, and trained professionals who normally work in operating rooms or other areas to care for virus patients. Dr. Lisa Goldberg, director of Tucson Medical Center’s emergency department, said her staff did drills, trained, and prepared.
Meanwhile Ducey, a Republican, argued the closures he ordered had slowed the spread of the disease and hospitals were now much better prepared. While he stressed the need for social distancing, he resisted wearing a mask himself in public even as cases mounted, batting away calls by some cities to allow them to require masks.
When the case surge became impossible to ignore, Ducey reversed himself on June 18 and allowed cities and counties to require masks in public, but didn’t issue a statewide order. Most have, including Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma and the counties that surround them.
Today, hospitals statewide are filling up with patients, some critically ill. The state had more than 66,000 confirmed cases as of Friday, up from just over 20,000 on June 1. Thousands more are being reported each day, and 1,535 people have died.
More than 2,400 people are hospitalized with coronavirus this week, up from about 1,000 three weeks ago. More than 600 ICU beds were filled with virus patients this week, two-thirds of them on ventilators and sedated.
Arizona has just over 200 empty ICU beds, out of about 1,600 in the state. More are being added as hospitals brace for a flood of patients as newly infected people slowly get sicker. Traveling nurses are being hired from other states to back up overworked staff.
“This is not a sprint, this is a marathon. In fact it’s an ultra-marathon,” Goldberg said.
