Now We Know [A Month Later] > Yesterday's News from AZ Mirror > Ducey's Not Doing Enough

It's all in THE MESSAGING?

Ducey has resisted calls for a statewide mask mandate, instead telling cities and counties they should enact their own.

TheWhite House Coronavirus Task Force said it was incumbent on states and local governments to implement policies to limit the spread. 

 

And if those policies aren’t in place, “all public health officials must alert the state population directly.” 

A document prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force late last month concluded that Gov. Doug Ducey is not doing enough to combat COVID-19 in Arizona.

“Arizona is experiencing a full resurgence equal to the summer surge but without the needed aggressive mitigation across the state,” the task force wrote in the Nov. 29 document, which includes status reports on all 50 states.

Throughout the pandemic, the weekly reports have been shared directly with governors.

The document was obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit newsroom based in Washington, D.C.

White House Coronavirus Task Force: Arizona needs ‘aggressive’ statewide measures

By Jim Small- December 8, 2020

 

 

 

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The White House coronavirus officials noted that Americans are facing a “historic high” risk from COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, with confirmed cases more than seven times higher and hospitalizations about triple what they were during June and July. 

“We are in a very dangerous place due to the current, extremely high COVID baseline and limited hospital capacity; a further post-Thanksgiving surge will compromise COVID patient care, as well as medical care overall,” the task force wrote in its report on Arizona.

> “New hospital admissions in Arizona are rapidly increasing and mitigation must be increased.”

That hasn’t happened. On Tuesday, a record number of Arizona coronavirus cases were reported.

> On Monday, state health officials reported there were less than 150 ICU beds available across the state and that only 10% of hospital beds were available, the lowest figures since the pandemic began in March.

> On Tuesday, Arizona reported 12,314 new cases, and the seven-day average is 5,860 cases a day. Almost 29% of the state’s cases since the pandemic began have been reported in the last 30 days.

> Since the pandemic began in March, Arizona has reported more than 378,000 cases. More than one in four of those — almost 29% — have come in the past month.

> So far, 6,973 Arizonans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. July still holds the record for the deadliest month for the virus, taking the lives of over 2,000 Arizonans.

> In the past month, 803 have died from the illness