It’s looking more and more like we’re going to need them
Unless some policy changes like those below are implemented in the coming days, it’s looking more and more like Arizona will need to go into surge hospital status and implement crisis standards of care for folks that become infected with the virus and need care later this summer. Here are some things that we could implement to avoid crisis care:
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Mandatory cloth masks in public indoor environments (with penalties for noncompliance- managed by cities).
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Allow cities to implement mitigation strategies.
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Stronger compliance incentives; modify EO 36 to include penalties for businesses not complying with CDC guidelines. Complaints could be followed up on by cities.
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More focus on testing and infection control in assisted living and skilled nursing. For example, setting up routine weekly testing of assisted living and skilled nursing staff w better infection control. MCDPH is about to award a contract related to this. It appears the state is unwilling to use their regulatory authority here.
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Continue to enhance contact tracing capacity. It would have been nice to tie ending the stay at home to some level of contact tracing to motivate supervisors to resource this- so that was a missed opportunity.
At the beginning of the pandemic, hospitals were ordered to submit (to ADHS) plans to increase their bed and ICU capacity by an additional 50% over their currently licensed capacity and implement crisis standards of care. I’m certain that given the data trends, hospitals are working to implement those surge plans.
On the alternate care site front… a couple of months ago there was a press event out at the old St. Luke’s hospital and a declaration by the governor and others that the facility would become a contingency acute care hospital strictly for COVID patients.
Several journalists and others have been trying to fund out what the status of the facility is. In other words, how ready is it to be used if needed?
Statements from the governor’s spokesperson this week in the Republic suggested that it is ready to go and can be operational in 48 hours. However, journalists and others have been unable to find a contract with an entity that would run the facility.
Later in the week, some journalists heard that the St. Luke’s is no longer an acute care alternate care site, but more of a step down facility.
Perhaps we will learn more soon. It’s an increasingly important question because with all the indicators pointing in the wrong direction, there’s an increasing chance that a site like this might be needed.
