Brutal summer heat can be more than just unpleasant. If you don’t take precautions, extreme temperatures can cause illness and even death. That’s why ADHS and the National Weather Service are joining forces to mark Arizona Heat Awareness Week from May 10-14. This is a chance to learn how to protect yourself and others from [...]
Since mid-December, when the first Pfizer vaccines reached Arizona, ADHS has been working with our local county health departments and tribes to get the COVID-19 vaccine distributed to vulnerable Arizonans as quickly as possible. Arizonans living in long-term care facilities and those 65 years of age and older were prioritized first for vaccination because of [...]
There are many good reasons to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19. It protects you, your family, your friends, and your community. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today offered another good reason: You no longer need to wear a mask for certain outdoor activities. Specifically, the CDC’s new guidance allows fully vaccinated individuals [...]
Today, our dashboards will show the addition of approximately 625 cases across three counties (Gila County - 270, Graham County - 142, Navajo County - 213). While these will appear as “new cases” for Friday’s case counts, these represent infections from throughout the pandemic, with 73% of the cases testing positive during the fall/winter peak [...]
Since mid-December, when the first Pfizer vaccines reached Arizona, ADHS has been working with our local county health departments and tribes to get the COVID-19 vaccine distributed to vulnerable Arizonans as quickly as possible. To further this goal, Arizona recently adopted a hybrid model prioritizing those at highest risk due to age and our frontline [...]
It has been almost a year since ADHS launched our COVID-19 dashboard. Since then, our dashboard has undergone many enhancements and has had new sections added. Our reporting regarding this disease continues to evolve as we collect additional data and learn about which data elements are most useful to understand how COVID-19 is impacting Arizonans. [...]
Over the past few months, you may have heard me call COVID-19 vaccines the light at the end of the tunnel. As more and more Arizonans get the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccines, we will start to see life returning to normal. That light is getting brighter by the day. New guidance released [...]
Earlier this week, State Farm Stadium hosted President Biden and Vice President Harris for a virtual tour of our vaccination site. Arizona’s state-operated vaccination sites have been identified as a national model. Since Jan. 11, the two state-operated sites have accounted for more than 20% of the total vaccines administered to date, statewide. In addition, [...]
This week, Arizona celebrated the milestone of more than 1 million doses of vaccine administered by the state, counties and health care providers. While this is a significant achievement, vaccination sites have capacity to vaccinate even more Arizonans if additional vaccine doses are made available by federal partners. Since Arizona is a “home rule” state [...]
On Monday I had the honor of taking President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on a virtual tour of our State Farm Stadium vaccination site in Glendale. During the tour, the vice president raised an issue that many people share. Here’s a lightly edited version of our exchange: THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hi, Doctor. [...]
