Governor Ducey Admits Numbers Up, But Hospital Beds Not In Crisis Mode Yet

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey held a press conference Thursday on the latest COVID-19 numbers. He says even there has been a rise in cases and hospitalizations in the state lately, Arizona is not in a critical spot. He says “the facts are we have an increase in testing, an increase in cases and an increase in positive test results.” He added: “so we’re going to continue to stay laser-focused on COVID-19 in the state of Arizona.” State health director Dr. Cara Christ said the state isn’t going back into stay-at-home measures due to the rise saying “we are not going to be able to stop the spread and so we can’t stop living as well.” Ducey says even though the state’s largest health care company, Banner Health, has said this week they were reaching capacity with ICU beds and ventilators, he says it’s not critical. Ducey said “we’d like to assure the public that we have the available bed capacity, and surge plans are in place, to continue to serve the people of Arizona.” As of this morning, Flagstaff Medical Center had 11 COVID positive patients with 11 pending tests with hospital capacity at around 50-percent. Verde Valley Medical Center in Cottonwood has no COVID-patients and around a 50-percent capacity. Yavapai Regional Medical Center has two COVID-positive patients and the VA hospital has one.