Throughout the COVID-19 response, ADHS has partnered with hospitals to ensure Arizona’s healthcare preparedness to address a surge in COVID-19 cases. Early in the outbreak, Governor Ducey issued executive orders to support healthcare surge capacity, including issuance of the Stay Home, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected order, which provided hospitals time to implement preparedness plans, enhance [...]
This morning at nine, we’ll be updating our COVID-19 data dashboard. Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be changing how they display data about cases and deaths on their dashboard, and ADHS will be changing ours to reflect this update. On our summary page, we will be breaking out confirmed and [...]
Over the past few months, we have been reviewing projections and models to ensure we have adequate healthcare resources to meet the needs of Arizonans during this pandemic. The news is encouraging: most of the current models continue to show that Arizona’s capacity is sufficient to meet the projected need for hospital beds and ventilators. [...]
As COVID-19 continues to spread in the United States, the CDC has recommended wearing cloth face coverings in public when physical distancing is difficult to maintain. Out and about in our communities, many Arizonans are following these recommendations. Studies continue to be published showing how COVID-19 can be spread through speaking, coughing, sneezing -- including by people [...]
May 17-23, 2020, is Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week. This year’s theme for EMS Week, “Ready Today, Preparing For Tomorrow” is appropriate given our current statewide response to the COVID-19 pandemic. EMS providers (including EMTs, paramedics, emergency nurses and physicians, 9-1-1 dispatchers, and EMS educators) have been on the front line of Arizona’s COVID-19 response since [...]
There are now multiple types of COVID-19 tests available, including Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and serology (antibody testing). Both test types are becoming increasingly available in our communities. The PCR test is a diagnostic test that looks for the presence of viral nucleic acids and tells if a person is currently infected with the virus. [...]
Mientras es posible que cualquier persona sufra de una enfermedad grave por el coronavirus (COVID-19), es fundamental señalar que los grupos de mayor riesgo incluyen personas de 65 años o más, y personas que consumen tabaco o padecen problemas de salud subyacentes como una enfermedad del corazón, diabetes, asma, cáncer u otras enfermedades respiratorias crónicas. [...]
Today’s dashboard includes an important update to the COVID-19 data including notable changes related to the identification of COVID-19 deaths in Arizona. Surveillance of deaths is an important component of any communicable disease investigation. This surveillance can provide key information about risk factors and the severity of a disease, especially when dealing with a novel [...]
We appreciate the work of the talented professionals who assisted our team of public health professionals and experienced epidemiologists in developing a state model. The department established the partnership to provide an additional model for consideration. This model was completed on April 20, 2020. With months of data now available, we have shifted our primary [...]
ADHS has worked in partnership with laboratories and healthcare providers across Arizona to increase COVID-19 testing capacity. Increased testing is now possible due to greater availability of testing supplies, which weren’t available earlier in the course of this outbreak. More information about testing gives public health a better understanding of how Arizona has been impacted [...]
