View Dr. Gerald’s Full Epidemiologic & Hospital Occupancy Report
From Dr. Joe Gerald this week: The past 2 weeks has seen a reversal of past trends with cases rising 25% or more. The cause is uncertain. but the list of culprits includes fall break for many K – 12 schools, a welcomed cold front that cooled things downs for a week or so, waning vaccine and acquired immunity, sporting events, loss of individual mitigation behaviors.
Ultimately, these triggers don’t matter as much as our poor individual and collective efforts to do the hard work necessary to adapt to pandemic living: getting vaccinated, getting tested, wearing a mask, avoiding high risk exposures, and crafting GOOD public policy. Unlike the movies, in the real world, undisciplined teams with poor coaching get crushed, time and time again.
In that spirit, a new report to be published by the Arizona Public Health Association tomorrow shows that Arizona will hold the unique distinction as the only state where COVID-19 has been the leading cause of death during the pandemic.
The data are now overwhelming that vaccination doesn’t provide durable immunity to reinfection. If you are on the fence, now is the time to get your third shot booster! While protection against severe illness is more long-lasting it wanes as well. Check out the updated links in the attached report for a number of major publications this past week that shed light on the way forward with our vaccination strategy.
In a bit of good news, ADHS is making it possible for our 3 data teams (UA, ASU, and NAU) to link vaccine and case data. Hopefully, it will allow us to make more sense of conditions on the ground. A note of appreciation to Dr. Rich Carmona who advocated on our behalf in his new advisory role with the Governor’s office.
