(Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
PHOENIX – Arizona would not currently be the country’s worst COVID-19 site if government officials did a better job of enforcing the mitigation rules, according to Dr.
“Businesses have acknowledged – especially bars, restaurants and nightclubs – that they could get away with this scam and not be punished,” said Humble, president of the Arizona Public Health Association and former director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Tuesday.
Humble said it has become so bad that the only sensible step to save lives that the state can take at this stage is to close pubs and restrict restaurants to takeaway service.
He said that although thousands of businesses are subject to mitigation rules imposed by the state over the summer, the health department has taken only 15 enforcement actions.
‘You’re telling me that this is the meaningful application of the mitigation measures? “I can not say it clearly enough: if we had applied better in those indoor environments, I would not be sitting here on the radio talking about the closure of the businesses,” he said.
Humble acknowledged that the closure of businesses could cause economic damage and cause additional health problems, but he noted that it helped stem the first wave of the July pandemic.
He said there was nothing the government could instruct to combat the spread of coronavirus that occurs during gatherings at private homes, but that there was no reason to do anything more in terms of mitigation.
“As I look at it, what policy levers do you actually have to make a real difference?” he said.
Humble suggested that governments could use Doug Ducey federal emergency relief funds to help offset the economic impact of closures.
“But it’s going to take the courage to make the call, and acknowledge that the safety net dollars are there,” he said. ‘He saves the CARES Act money. It’s sitting in the bank. ”
Humble asked if Ducey and health director, dr. Cara Christ, at this point in time it is slowing down the spread of COVID-19.
“I think their attitude was, ‘Look, we’re not going to try to soften it, we’re going to try to vaccinate our way out of it,'” he said.
As of Tuesday, the health department said about 100,000 Arizona residents in 7 million residents received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Low inventory is arranged by preference groups.
Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Arizona has the highest percentage per capita transmission per capita and the seventh highest COVID-19 mortality rate in the country.
State hospitals are seeing record numbers of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients, and it is set to worsen due to the lack of action in November and December, Humble said.
“It’s not the cases on me that bother me,” he said. “It’s the fact that 7% of them will have to get to the hospital in about seven, eight, nine days,” he said.
‘This is how long it takes after you are diagnosed with the disease before you are sick enough to be admitted to hospital, and there is … no place in the inn. This is the worrying thing for me. ‘