ARIZONA, USA — Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Arizona Department of Health Services' (ADHS) Director Dr. Cara Christ held a press conference on Wednesday updating the state on the status of COVID-19.
Multiple statements were made that will be greatly impactful to the citizens of Arizona, including hospital workers, restaurant owners, and teachers, as the spread of COVID-19 is once again spiking in the state.
12 News has focused on the five most major announcements to give you a better idea on what changes you'll be seeing in the state soon.
1) The COVID-19 vaccine will be free for anyone who gets it in Arizona
Gov. Doug Ducey announced that the vaccine will be available free of charge for every Arizonan that gets it.
Arizona is expected to receive their first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine doses in mid to late December, pending approval by the FDA.
The National Guard will also reportedly be sure to assist rural areas where it would be more difficult to gain access to the vaccine.
2) Teachers among first priority for getting the COVID-19 vaccine
Educators in the state will also be among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it is made available, the governor announced at the news conference.
The Center for Disease Control's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices announced Monday that health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities should be given priority to the vaccine.
The move by Ducey affirmed that these groups will get priority for the vaccine as the CDC recommended, but said that the state's teachers will also be prioritized.
Multiple unified school districts in Maricopa County, along with high school and elementary districts, are in the red and are one red benchmark away from being recommended to shift back to virtual learning by the health department, according to the most recent update of the Maricopa County Schools COVID-19 Dashboard.
3) Hospitals getting $60 million more in funding
The governor announced that the state would be distributing a total of $60 million in funding to Arizona's hospitals specifically to provide additional staffing.
The increase in funding comes as public health experts around the state are warning of hospital "catastrophe" coming in mid-December or early January due to widespread hospital staffing shortages and minimal inpatient and ICU bed capacity.
This is added to the $25 million, for a total of $85 million, from the state to Arizona hospitals in order to bolster hospital staffing that Ducey announced on Nov. 18.
An announcement was made back in April that the state would accelerate more than $50 million in payments to Arizona's hospitals, including an additional $5 million in new COVID-19 related funding to Critical Access Hospitals throughout Arizona.
4) Restaurants encouraged to shift to outdoor dining
The governor announced an executive order at the press conference, making it easier for restaurants to expand seating for outdoor dining.
The order will allow restaurants to expand their perimeters past sidewalks and other previously barred off areas to make creating outdoor dining areas easier.
The executive order included multiple diverging of funds to support restaurants in the state, mainly $1 million to the Safest Outside Restaurant Assistance Program to expand outdoor dining options.
The order also included $100,000 for the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association to help restaurants and hotels to strengthen sanitation practices, and another $100,000 to the Arizona Restaurant Association to further help expand outdoor dining options.
This order stop short of a recent recommendation made in a letter sent yesterday to Christ from multiple Arizona health systems, according to Chief Medical Officer at Banner Health Dr. Marjorie Bessel. Health leaders, in the letter, recommend a temporary ban on indoor seating in restaurants, but allow outdoor dining.
The governor also made clear that if two substantiated complaints are made of a business ignoring the public health guidelines, that business will get one warning to come to compliance. On the second instance, the business will face closure.
This is the first dining restriction or change to the restrictions already in place that the state has made since Sept. 9, when Gov. Ducey ordered restaurants to reduce capacity to 50% when the state confirmed a total of 112,000 coronavirus cases.
Restrictions for restaurants in Arizona were originally put in place to mitigate the spread of the virus on back March 20. Restaurants were then allowed to reopen for dine-in service on May 11.
5) Keeping large events accountable
Ducey announced another executive order geared towards limiting the amount of large gathering during the pandemic.
When a public event greater than 50 people is approved, the local jurisdiction must publicly announce the event and post details of the enhanced mitigation strategies on their website.
The same recommendation on limiting large gatherings was also in the letter yesterday to Christ, Bessel said.
The state first announced a similar order back on March 30, when Ducey implemented the shelter-in-place executive order, which remained in effect in Arizona until May 15.
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