The past two years have put public health preparedness on center stage as our country grapples with the ongoing pandemic. All the while, we have remained vigilant and prepared for the next unknown challenge facing communities across our state. Public health partners across Arizona have risen to the occasion and have done amazing work responding [...]
Today we added data to our COVID-19 dashboard that includes additional information about cases and deaths, as well as information about the health of our healthcare system in Arizona. The dashboard now has case counts broken down by zip code and more detailed demographic information about cases and deaths in our state. Data about the [...]
Recent events such as Hurricane Harvey have illustrated the importance of information sharing during a disaster response. Communication and coordination between first responders, health care facilities, emergency management, public health, and other responders is critical to protecting the health and well-being of disaster victims. After action reports and lessons learned from previous responses almost always [...]
We hosted a Zika Action Plan Workshop and Tabletop Exercise on June 20 as part of our Zika preparedness series that began with the Zika Action Plan Summit in May 2016. Approximately 80 partners representing more than 25 local, tribal, and state organizations attended the latest workshop. The workshop events included an overview of Zika [...]
Our Bureau of Public Health Emergency Preparedness in partnership with State Emergency Management, Ability360, and independent living advocates joined forces to strengthen disaster readiness for persons with disabilities. The statewide Emergency Preparedness Task Force on Access and Functional Needs held the biannual preparedness summit on June 8 that brought together communities, individuals, and organizations working [...]
Governor Ducey proclaimed this week (June 12-17) as Monsoon Awareness Week in Arizona. While we haven’t yet been hit by the rain we expect during monsoon, we’re anticipating another summer of severe weather. Monsoons in Arizona can be associated with extreme heat, thunderstorms, dust storms, flash floods and wildfires. For public health, this means revisiting our preparedness plans and [...]
Every day our staff works with local public health and healthcare partners to prepare for and respond to all kinds of public health threats. Looking back at 2015, we addressed infectious disease threats like Ebola, measles, chikungunya, and Salmonella; environmental threats like wildfires, monsoons, and floods; and potential health security threats at Superbowl XLIX. This work [...]
This week the Governor signed an Executive Order establishing the Governor’s Council on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response. The Council consists of 20 public health, health-care, and other multi-sectorial partners, with the ADHS Director as the Chair. Our task will be to ensure that Arizona is prepared to rapidly and effectively respond to various infectious [...]
One of the roles we play in any outbreak is making sure that our partners in the state have all the information they need to respond to a situation and be safe in that response. I’ve posted about our continuing education of those partners, but now we’ve created a one-page stop for partner. Our Ebola [...]
During the 2009- 2010 influenza pandemic, we saw how influenza can be unpredictable in terms of who it affects most, when it occurs, and what strains will circulate. This season is no exception. While the circulating strains are exactly what we predicted, the peak of the flu season is hitting earlier than usual (now) and it's [...]
