Coronavirus case count surges as 40 new Arizona deaths reported

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Arizona officials reported nearly 1,000 new coronavirus cases Wednesday amid a recent surge in hospitalizations, a little over two weeks after Gov. Doug Ducey ended his stay-at-home order.

The surge of new cases is a troubling sign for former state health director Will Humble, who said the timing is too close to be coincidence.

“The one thing it does is it shows us that the stay-at-home order worked,” Humble said. “Because when it ended you see an increase in cases on the 26th, which is 10 days after it ended. You can look at it county by county by county and see the same thing.”

Whether the state-home order needs to be revisited is another issue, Humble said.

“That’s a tougher call, because it has really profound effects on other parts of public health — substance abuse, child welfare, unemployment, the whole host of social determinants,” he said. “If you’re an elected official, your hand might get forced if the cases continue to ramp up.”

Ducey, a Republican, faces pressure from businesses and GOP lawmakers not to clamp down again on the economy, which has been decimated by layoffs that began even before he issued his business closure orders, followed by the stay-home order on March 30.

The state Department of Health Services on Wednesday also reported 40 new deaths. bringing the total in Arizona to 981. Hospitals reported 1,092 people were being treated for the virus as of Tuesday, with 379 of those in intensive care and 239 on ventilators.

The daily hospitalizations exceeded 1,000 for the first time on Monday and increased by 83 on Tuesday. The agency has been disclosing hospitalization data since April 9.

Health officials reported an additional 973 covid-19 cases Wednesday. The state now has had 22,223 cases.

Here's a look at today's map of COVID-19 cases in Pima County and the rest of Arizona. https://t.co/jn5uORYzMw

— Arizona Daily Star (@TucsonStar) June 3, 2020

The increases are independent of more testing, which has been fairly stable for several weeks, Humble said.

State health department officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the surge in cases. But officials in Maricopa County, where the majority of the state’s cases and deaths have been reported, said it was not unexpected after the stay-home order expired on May 15. Spokesman Ron Coleman said the virus is circulating widely and advised people not to go out if possible, especially the elderly and those with health conditions.

“Due to increased social interaction in the community, we expected to see an increase in positive cases,” Coleman said in an email. “We also anticipate seeing our other numbers such as hospitalizations start to increase over the next couple of weeks due to the lag in reporting.”

The key to preventing deaths, Humble said, lies in increasing testing and infection control measures at skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, where the disease causes the majority of deaths. Also important is continuing to increase contract tracing of people who have contracted the disease so others they have potentially exposed can self-isolate and prevent more infections.

Ducey has said Arizona’s health care system can care for any coronavirus patients.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

In other developments:

— A judge has declined to appoint on expert to determine whether a private detention facility in Florence is following federal health guidance on guarding against the coronavirus.

U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa on Tuesday rejected a request by five detainees at CoreCivic’s Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex to appoint the expert, ruling the facility’s covid-19 policies haven’t been deliberately indifferent to the health of the detainees.

The judge said the detainees couldn’t identify one instance in which the facility wasn’t complying with federal guidance. Humetewa said there may have been instances in which the policies weren’t being followed, but she concluded such developments wouldn’t reflect that the policies themselves were insufficient.

The facility houses about 3,000 detainees. It’s unclear how many detainees at the facility have tested positive for the coronavirus to date, though 26 detainees had tested positive as of May 22.