Arizona Rolls Out New Initiative To Address Surge In COVID-19 Patients Filling Up Hospital Beds
The state’s health department has rolled out a new initiative to address the surge in coronavirus patients filling up hospital beds.
ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ said Arizona will provide funds to staff up to 20% of hospitals’ licensed beds for up to six weeks.
She said the state is also establishing a post-acute plan to help COVID-19 patients who no longer need to stay in a hospital, but still can’t go home yet.
“We know there’s a lot of people who get really sick from COVID, and they may recover enough to not need to be in a hospital anymore but they may need to be somewhere else besides going home,” said Christ. “Maybe they live with somebody who is high risk. Maybe they still need some ongoing care.”
In addition to staffing, some of the money from the initiative will pay for more PPE for employees working in a post-acute facility.
As of Friday, there are nearly 117,000 cases of coronavirus reported, with almost 2,100 deaths according to the ADHS dashboard.
Over 860,000 people have been tested in the state.
