Update 2: Ducey just finished a press conference. He announced that Mayors can now mandate masks! Yay!
A modest response to a severe crisis, but definitely better than nothing. He also announced that the state will start enforcement of some restrictions for businesses and “large gatherings” will be broken up.. Except for Trump’s rally that’s GTG. He mumbled and said Trump gets a political exemption. He also continued his lies about hospitalization stats. saying they were “almost flat.” Ducey is officially upgraded from an F to a D-.
Update: — The number of hospitalized up bigly again June 17. ICUs statewide now 83% full, Hospital beds at 85% of capacity.
Since I wrote this last night (June 16th): “Hospital Covid-19 specific metrics” for the 17th spikes even higher: ER visits are up 10% from the day before to 1093, ICU beds in use rose by 29 to 531 (another new record) and total inpatient beds in use rose by about 80 to 1582. Follow on the AZDHS website: and if they stop sharing the data, get ready to protest. www.azdhs.gov/...
The propaganda:
There is a line of bullshit propaganda, sorry: “Republican messaging” being actively spread & AZ Gov Ducey is happy to spew it. The official Red-state-approved words are “increase in testing”
The Banned Red-state words: Required Masks, Closing anything, and Science
Ducey’s “Messaging” Yesterday:
”Arizona will keep reopening despite surge in COVID-19 cases..
...we are not seeing an increase in patient volume. (Lie #1) we are prepared if that increase should come (Lie #2),” Ducey said. “The facts are (Lie #3), we got an increase in testing, an increase in testing and an increase in positive test results. So we’re going to continue to stay laser-focused on COVID-19.”…
Ducey pointed to a large increase in testing as an explanation for the climbing numbers. (lie #4)
The reality:
Reality #1 : AZ is seeing a dramatic increase in hospitalizations.
Inpatient: 89% increase in # currently hospitalized for Covid-19: from ~790 to ~1500 in 1 month since “reopening” mid-May.
ICU: 52% increase in # people with Covid-19 currently in ICU (330 to 500 ) in 1 month since AZ “opened”
ED: 85% increase in people presenting with Covid-19 daily in the ER : from ~520 to 956 in the same time frame.
Reality #2: AZ hospitals are (not) prepared for a large increase
news.azpm.org/...
“Arizona hospitals are increasingly constrained in terms of resources and the increase in COVID-positive patients both in the ICU and in-patient”….said Ann-Marie Alameddin, president and CEO of the Arizona Hospital Association.
..
Hospital officials are worried about staff burnout..
Hospitals are barely handling increases and fear a large spike:
Arizona hospitals bracing for crisis as COVID-19 cases surge
From the June's Tucson-area coronavirus coverage: Arizona cases surge; early results from UA antibody tests series
ICU units approaching full capacity in Phoenix, Tucson
Reality #3: It’s not the testing, stupid. AZ case # increases dramatically outstrip smaller increases in PCR testing, while % of new tests which are positive has risen dramatically
AZ increased PCR testing by only about 28% , from around 7,000 a day the week of May 15th, to around 9000 a day last week (recent data is incomplete)
Meanwhile new positive covid-19 case numbers spiked by 274% over the last three weeks: from a weekly average of 345 on May 26th to 1290 on June 16th. (from ASU tracking site: biodesign.asu.edu/...)
Exposing the lie that new testing is sufficient, % positive has risen by 250% since May. 17, from 6% to 21% even as PCR testing increased
21% positive means AZ is not testing enough
”“The increased testing alone doesn’t seem to be a plausible explanation of why so many more cases were identified,” said Dr. Joe Gerald, an associate professor with the University of Arizona’s Zuckerman College of Public Health.”
And wait, theres more!!
Reality #4: AZ has just about the worst outbreak in the nation and we are getting worse.
Hospital data from UMN shows how AZ compares to other states nationwide, revealing that we have about the worst unchecked Covid-19 outbreak in the US.
Note — that some states (listed below) dont report this data particularly concerning is FL. see total hospitialization data for these states at UNM
1. AZ has the 2nd highest per capita Covid hospitalization rate among states who report this: (counting DC) This shows who is hardest hit Right NOW.
State
|
Current Hosp
for C19
|
Persons in Hospital
per mil
|
DC
|
191
|
272
|
AZ
|
1457
|
200
|
MS
|
467
|
157
|
IL
|
1961
|
154
|
NJ
|
1346
|
151
|
MA
|
1039
|
149
|
RI
|
141
|
133
|
MD
|
751
|
124
|
LA
|
568
|
123
|
SD
|
93
|
106
|
Note: - Current Hosp Data only available for 42 states - Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Idaho, Kansas, Indiana, Tennessee and Hawaii Do not report current hospitalization data
|
|
|
2. More of the same, but for ICU:
Top 10 States Current # People in ICU for Covid per million
(Likewise some states dont list ICU data, so dont take this list as absolute)
|
As of June 16
|
|
State
|
Current ICU
for Covid 19
|
Persons in ICU
per mil for Covid 19
|
DC
|
76
|
108
|
AZ
|
464
|
64
|
MD
|
313
|
52
|
IL
|
596
|
47
|
IN
|
305
|
46
|
NJ
|
397
|
45
|
VA
|
334
|
39
|
MA
|
253
|
36
|
MN
|
186
|
33
|
NV
|
85
|
27
|
|
|
|
How does AZ stack up against the rest of the US for % of Hospital beds used by Covid patients. Hey, we’re #1, Right NOW! and as this chart shows, We are trending UP, compared to other states with large numbers of hospitalized.
And it looks like we are going to stay that way! What’s Ducey doing?
1. He’s not wearing a mask himself, or social distancing in public
Ducey goes everywhere without a mask
...and posts it on Twitter cause he’s #DuceyDeath man! (note that in this tweet he is also advertising for his business Cold Stone Creamery)
— Super hypocrisy dude, Cool!
2.He’s not mandating masks: Ducey wont require facemasks
3. He’s not mandating anything except restrictions on bars that don’t serve ANY food, and no big crowds — except churches, cause God can’t abide Covid-19
except
4. He DID mandate in an executive order that no town or county can add local requirements without State approval:
I believe he wants us all to die.
- Sincerely, an AZ citizen