PHOENIX — A record number of new COVID-19 cases were announced by the Arizona Department of Health Services on Tuesday.
The department announced 12,314 new cases of coronavirus, marking the highest number of cases reported in one day since the pandemic began.
Data released Monday from the federal Department of Health and Human Services shows people going to the hospital for COVID-19 started going up exponentially in Arizona hospitals back on Nov. 6.
The number of ICU beds being used by people with COVID-19 has also been steadily increasing since early November. As of Tuesday, 43% of all ICU beds being used in the state were being used by coronavirus patients.
The data is similar to what was reported by the department when cases were on the rise in the summer.
However, the same mitigation measures are not in place to help slow the spread this time around.
The White House Coronavirus Task Force recommended in their report on Arizona dated Sunday that “mitigation efforts must increase.”
The task force even added specifics, like ensuring masks in public and reducing capacity or closing places like bars and restaurants.
Gov. Doug Ducey last week set money aside to help expand outdoor dining and has kept indoor capacity at bars and restaurants at 50%.
Ducey also set $60 million aside for the Arizona Department of Health Services to help get 500 more nurses to help with staffing.
However, Dawn Cato, the CEO of the Arizona Nurses Association, is still concerned over what’s to come.
“It’s going to be, you know, pretty much a battle for who gets the nurses in which states,” Cato said.
Cato added that with the surge, patients that would normally in the ICU are in other areas of the hospital, stretching hospital staff thin beyond just those treating the most acute COVID-19 patients.
“Those nurses, although they’re not in the ICU, they’re being stretched as well because they are taking on more complex patients and more patients than what they would typically have as a patient load,” Cato said.
Sierra Holloway, a Valley ICU nurse, has been working with COVID-19 patients in her hospital.
“The patients are very different, they’re much more complex this time around,” Holloway said.
Holloway said her hospital is balancing capacity with both COVID-19 patients and non-COVID-19 patients.
She added that the hospital she works at has been taking in patients from other hospitals through the surge line.
“Since Thanksgiving, we have seen an increase in not only our COVID cases but also our not COVID critical care cases,” Holloway said.
As of time of publication, the governor’s office did not respond to 12 News’ request for comment or an interview on the surge in cases or any possible mitigation efforts.
