Arizona’s top health official said recently she doesn’t see any signs that would tell her the COVID-19 health emergency is over within the state, according to Tucson.com.
What’s going on?
Dr. Cara Christ — the state’s health director — said there are no signs currently that the government’s emergency orders to stop the spread of COVID-19 will end.
- She said the emergency declarations could end if cases keep rising and people keep dying.
- People will need to learn to live with the virus like they live with influenza.
- “That would change with COVID-19 as we continue in this pandemic,” Christ said, according to Tuscon.com. “And then it would just be like living with the influenza. At that point it wouldn’t be a public-health emergency any more.”
Arizona cases dropped because of face masks
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the number of COVID-19 cases in Arizona dropped by 75% after the state added local mask mandates, restrictions on public events and closures of bars, gyms, movie theaters and restaurants in the middle of June, as I wrote for Deseret.com.
- “The primary goal of implementing widespread enhanced mitigation measures in Arizona was to protect and save lives and maintain capacity in the health care system,” CDC researchers wrote. “A combination of voluntary and enforceable measures is more effective than any single measure.