ARIZONA, USA — The majority of people facing severe illness due to COVID-19 in Arizona and in need of being hospitalized are unvaccinated against the virus, Valleywise Health said in a press conference on Thursday.
"We have tools that are available to help us not see a dramatic increase in the number of patients that we're treating with severe complications from COVID-19, and that's vaccination," said the healthcare system's Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Michael White.
The statement lines up with a report the Center for Disease Control recently made. The center reported that the highly contagious Delta Variant is responsible for 83% of new cases, 99% of which are unvaccinated people.
The Delta Variant is becoming a stronger presence within Arizona's community as hospitals are seeing increases in cases and hospitalizations, Dr. White said. The continual rise in cases may once again threaten an already fragile healthcare system.
"Our healthcare delivery organizations are tired," he said. "The uptick in cases that we're seeing now, the team rallies, but they are tired from this. We do not need to see another large spike within our communities of this disease when we have [the vaccine] available."
The increases in hospitalizations and cases haven't only been happening at Valleywise. Multiple COVID-19 metrics in Arizona have seen spikes two weeks after the July 4 holiday weekend.
The state's 7-day average of COVID-19 cases saw a 124% increase in the past two weeks. The average reported on Monday at 1,103 is the highest 7-day case average Arizona has seen since March 12.
The state's COVID-19 inpatient bed use has seen a 53% increase since July 5. The amount of beds reported on Monday at 814 is the highest inpatient bed usage the state has seen since March 12.
Coronavirus in Arizona
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