With the Omicron variant spreading rapidly, Arizona has seen more COVID-19 cases in the past week than any other week of the pandemic. Alongside this increase, we’ve seen more people seeking care in hospital emergency rooms and more people seeking COVID-19 testing. Both of these are challenging in their own right. But one avoidable problem [...]
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has important findings about COVID-19 breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated individuals: It’s extremely rare for a breakthrough case to lead to severe outcomes. When a severe outcome such as intensive care admission does occur from a breakthrough case, the individual is almost certain [...]
How excited did you feel the first time you felt your baby move? What begins like a small flutter in the early stages of pregnancy often progresses to full blown kicks (and punches!) by the third trimester. While it can be great fun for parents to feel or see their baby moving around, paying close [...]
Our latest report on COVID-19 outcomes by vaccination status offers even more evidence that vaccines are saving lives. In November, those who weren’t vaccinated were 31.1 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than the fully vaccinated. They also were 4.9 times more likely to test positive for COVID-19. This is a big change from [...]
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has 8.7 million reasons why it’s safe and smart to vaccinate kids ages 5 to 11 against COVID-19. Building on extensive trials that found no serious vaccination-related events, this study found serious adverse events extremely rare among children ages 5 to 11 who [...]
As is the case around the country, Arizona is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases amid the spread of the extraordinarily contagious Omicron variant. The COVID-19 Cases by Day graph on the ADHS COVID-19 Dashboard shows a surge beginning two days after Christmas, with more than 7,000 cases and even 8,000-plus cases on days for [...]
Cases added in today’s COVID-19 data dashboard update are lower than they’d ordinarily be because of the New Year’s holiday. Expect to see higher numbers of cases added in the coming days as the dashboard catches up. Major holidays are the rare exception when information temporarily slows to the COVID-19 data dashboard. I wish everyone [...]
A public service announcement featuring Governor Doug Ducey and Dr. Richard Carmona, 17th U.S. Surgeon General and the governor’s adviser on public health preparedness, is now airing on Arizona television stations in addition to social media and streaming media. I hope you’ll heed their advice to help protect yourself and others from COVID-19: Get vaccinated [...]
Since the start of the pandemic, more than 15.5 million diagnostic tests have allowed Arizonans to learn whether they have COVID-19 and take action to protect themselves and others. Testing has come a long way in Arizona, both in terms of capacity and options. COVID-19 tests are available to everyone, including the uninsured, at low [...]
Like many of you, I remain concerned about how the extraordinarily contagious Omicron variant may affect our healthcare system. Arizona’s hospitals are already strained by COVID-19 patients, the vast majority of whom are unvaccinated. Here are some things on my mind as we continue learning about this fast-spreading variant: Omicron is likely to cause more [...]
