Arizona is a disaster

[Anonymous]

My sibling is an ER doctor in Phoenix and says they are "completely getting slammed" with Covid patients. It's getting scary because unlike NYC there is no end in sight because people aren't socially distancing or wearing masks.

The ICU beds at my sibling's hospital were completely full Sat night and then they had a few pts die and others recover from surgery so they gained back a few beds Sunday. They're still doing elective surgeries
so these will stop at some point and they'll gain back these beds for use for Covid. They do have ventilators for surge beds but not stafff--so for awhile they'll get on with staff picking up extra shifts and then they'll hire agency staff.
But at some point the numbers will just outpace the the staff. Hospitals will start moving patients around to different hospitals but again this only works for so long.

Because again--the state ISN'T doing anything about this. Medical staff are freaking out because they're literally not doing ANYTHING to stop the numbers from continuing to climb daily except for individual citizens who start distancing.

My sibling says it's all community spread--people who picked it up at stores, restaurants, etc. All ages.
It's exactly ONE MONTH since the state just decided to open and pretend that the virus didn't exist. No masks, no distancing.
It's likely worse there because it's so hot that people spend the majority of their time indoors.
The virus seems to spread much less often in the outdoors (even in crowds).

Moral of this story---we need to keep wearing masks. It's going to really, really ugly in states that don't.

[Anonymous]

Friend is in the media in AZ and confirms what you're saying, OP. Says it was predicted by quite a few health experts that the intense heat would as always keep people indoors, and the result would be more cases when the temps rose. Combine that with what my friend says is a deep, deep denial of the seriousness of the virus and it's a recipe for disaster. My friend is trying to move out of Arizona largely because the profound denial about individual responsibility for public health is so awful that he believes the state is never going to get out ahead of the virus and there will be repeated waves over a very long time.

[Anonymous]

I have family in Phoenix. No one has taken it seriously. They and all their friends and neighbors have been golfing, socializing, and shopping as usual. Big Easter dinners rolled right into kids’ birthday parties and golf tournaments. “We’re allowed to X” has been the common refrain, with no thought as to other options or courses of action.

If things get “really bad”, everyone’s going to get out of Dodge and go to their vacation homes in northern AZ for the summer. Bringing the virus with them, of course. Just as they did when they originally brought it from Sun Valley to Phx during ski season.

[Anonymous]

It's odd that if Arizona hasn't been doing anything all along, why it took so long to get bad? If anything, more people leave AZ this time of year as the snowbirds all head north.

This is a scary reminder that COVID is still here and makes me fearful for the fall when it might return in a bad way everywhere else while we are all cooped again for the winter.

Meanwhile, no one will tolerate being shut down again -- especially around the holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have family in Phoenix. No one has taken it seriously. They and all their friends and neighbors have been golfing, socializing, and shopping as usual. Big Easter dinners rolled right into kids’ birthday parties and golf tournaments. “We’re allowed to X” has been the common refrain, with no thought as to other options or courses of action.

If things get “really bad”, everyone’s going to get out of Dodge and go to their vacation homes in northern AZ for the summer. Bringing the virus with them, of course. Just as they did when they originally brought it from Sun Valley to Phx during ski season.

+1

I live in AZ. Few people here take covid seriously. People did follow the rules during shelter in place (from what I saw) but it has been a total free for all ever since we reopened. Masks are very uncommon.

I wanted to note my agreement about “getting out of Dodge”. Yep- that is what people are doing- and not because of covid, but because of the heat. Everyone here travels during the summer (anyone who can afford to, anyway). Most people who live in AZ are transplants and did not grow up here. Everyone is either traveling for leisure or heading to visit family in locations with milder weather.

It’s a problem. And with the “rules” being determined state by state with no federal or regional coordination- outbreaks in one state spread easily with travel.

That said, we do have a big problem up on the Navajo reservation, and I have heard firsthand that up to 20/25% of the cases are coming in from MX (US citizens and dual citizens returning home for treatment). And we have a LOT of dual citizens .

But the root of the problem is AZ citizens and locals not taking covid seriously.

[Anonymous]

I don't know whey it took so long. I'm not an epidemiologist but I suppose it's all about the logarithmic growth of numbers. 1 becomes 2 which maybe becomes 3 or 4 but the over time you have enough cases that a doubling of 50 is 100 and you're off to the races.

They're almost at the stage where NYC was at it's worse except the government/society isn't doing anything. NYC shut down. Manhattan was empty. People locked it down. In Arizona they're still out living their lives like it's 2019.

Doctors are freaking because it's feeling as if they're bailing a boat with a teaspoon when it's taking on gallons of water.

[Anonymous]

Trump needs to slap an effing mask on his face and Model Safe Actions for His Citizens!! I blame fat face !!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have family in Phoenix. No one has taken it seriously. They and all their friends and neighbors have been golfing, socializing, and shopping as usual. Big Easter dinners rolled right into kids’ birthday parties and golf tournaments. “We’re allowed to X” has been the common refrain, with no thought as to other options or courses of action.

If things get “really bad”, everyone’s going to get out of Dodge and go to their vacation homes in northern AZ for the summer. Bringing the virus with them, of course. Just as they did when they originally brought it from Sun Valley to Phx during ski season.

+1

I live in AZ. Few people here take covid seriously. People did follow the rules during shelter in place (from what I saw) but it has been a total free for all ever since we reopened. Masks are very uncommon.

I wanted to note my agreement about “getting out of Dodge”. Yep- that is what people are doing- and not because of covid, but because of the heat. Everyone here travels during the summer (anyone who can afford to, anyway). Most people who live in AZ are transplants and did not grow up here. Everyone is either traveling for leisure or heading to visit family in locations with milder weather.

It’s a problem. And with the “rules” being determined state by state with no federal or regional coordination- outbreaks in one state spread easily with travel.

That said, we do have a big problem up on the Navajo reservation, and I have heard firsthand that up to 20/25% of the cases are coming in from MX (US citizens and dual citizens returning home for treatment). And we have a LOT of dual citizens .

But the root of the problem is AZ citizens and locals not taking covid seriously.

OP here.
Where my sibling is (Major medical center in Phoenix) it's just "regular" people. Not Navajos from a reservation or crowds from Mexico. Just parents and professionals and people getting it from stores and jobs and restaurants and life. Total cross section of society--not any one population.

[Anonymous]

Arizona seriously needs a mask law. Ducey is delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have family in Phoenix. No one has taken it seriously. They and all their friends and neighbors have been golfing, socializing, and shopping as usual. Big Easter dinners rolled right into kids’ birthday parties and golf tournaments. “We’re allowed to X” has been the common refrain, with no thought as to other options or courses of action.

If things get “really bad”, everyone’s going to get out of Dodge and go to their vacation homes in northern AZ for the summer. Bringing the virus with them, of course. Just as they did when they originally brought it from Sun Valley to Phx during ski season.

+1

I live in AZ. Few people here take covid seriously. People did follow the rules during shelter in place (from what I saw) but it has been a total free for all ever since we reopened. Masks are very uncommon.

I wanted to note my agreement about “getting out of Dodge”. Yep- that is what people are doing- and not because of covid, but because of the heat. Everyone here travels during the summer (anyone who can afford to, anyway). Most people who live in AZ are transplants and did not grow up here. Everyone is either traveling for leisure or heading to visit family in locations with milder weather.

It’s a problem. And with the “rules” being determined state by state with no federal or regional coordination- outbreaks in one state spread easily with travel.

That said, we do have a big problem up on the Navajo reservation, and I have heard firsthand that up to 20/25% of the cases are coming in from MX (US citizens and dual citizens returning home for treatment). And we have a LOT of dual citizens .

But the root of the problem is AZ citizens and locals not taking covid seriously.

OP here.
Where my sibling is (Major medical center in Phoenix) it's just "regular" people. Not Navajos from a reservation or crowds from Mexico. Just parents and professionals and people getting it from stores and jobs and restaurants and life. Total cross section of society--not any one population.

Yep- I’m in Tucson (southern AZ nearer the border) which is likely why the difference with regard to Mexico. The Navajo nation numbers are horrific but most are being transferred to NM as it is closer.

FWIW Tucson is a more liberal area (compared to the rest of the state) and I expect compliance is quite a lot better than in PHX but still not great. Mask wearing varies area to area here in Tucson (and is not enough)- some places 80-90% other places as low as 30% or so. I heard in PHX it is significantly worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arizona seriously needs a mask law. Ducey is delusional.

I think he will cave on masks- though it is too late, better late than never I guess.

Zero chance he’ll roll back the reopening though.

[Anonymous]

I would assume with everyone seeing these numbers people would change behavior? Masks should a national thing.

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure if it’s generally true or just for my specific situation, but my Dr. advised against travel to AZ due to a flare up of a chronic condition. She basically considered it a medical wasteland and that I would need to go to San Diego or back to DC for proper treatment.

I can’t imagine that limited high quality medical care is helpful right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure if it’s generally true or just for my specific situation, but my Dr. advised against travel to AZ due to a flare up of a chronic condition. She basically considered it a medical wasteland and that I would need to go to San Diego or back to DC for proper treatment.

I can’t imagine that limited high quality medical care is helpful right now.

This I don’t know...we do have some wonderful medical care here (In general) but from what I understand we have always had a low number of beds in proportion to our population. Why that is- I don’t know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would assume with everyone seeing these numbers people would change behavior? Masks should a national thing.

No. I’m not taking Arizona’s situation and extrapolating it for Maryland.

We have a mask law. We are taking this much more seriously. They’ve had EVERYTHING open. My in-laws live in Phoenix and say practically no one is wearing a mask.