PHOENIX — Coronavirus cases are on the rise again in Arizona. The Arizona Department of Health Services reported 3,434 new cases on Tuesday.
The last time the state reported that many daily positive cases was back in July.
“We are seeing more and more COVID patients day over day,” Dr. Frank LoVecchio said.
LoVecchio is an emergency physician at Valleywise Health and other hospitals around the Valley.
The 7-day average number of cases and percent positivity of COVID-19 cases has been climbing steadily since early October.
“There are no signs to show that it’s going to slow down right now,” LoVecchio said.
LoVecchio said what has changed is how much the healthcare field knows about COVID-19.
"Since July we’ve learned a lot about the disease,” LoVecchio said.
Hospitals have learned how they can make more space for patients and doctors have a better understanding of who can safely go home to recover.
“It’s almost routine to let people tolerate oxygen saturations like 85% because we know as long as they don’t move around a lot etc. they do pretty well,” LoVecchio said.
Looking ahead for the next two weeks, LoVecchio is concerned.
“I anticipate they’re going to get worse. I anticipate that we’re going to have some of our colleagues get sick, some of our nursing staff and other emergency department get sick, and just have to do what we did in the summer,” LoVecchio said.
He’s hoping not to see the system as overwhelmed as it was a few months back.
“We were really, really overcrowded. We were putting patients wherever we could. Hopefully, we don’t have to go through that again,” LoVecchio said.
LoVecchio said again now is the time to take precautions to slow the spread of the virus like wearing a mask, washing hands, and physically distancing.