Log in

Over 5,200 cases of coronavirus reported in Arizona

Posted 4/20/20

The Arizona Department of Health Services is reporting 5,251 cases and 208 deaths of COVID-19 in the state as of Tuesday morning.

The Maricopa County Department of Public Health is reporting 2,719 …

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor

Over 5,200 cases of coronavirus reported in Arizona

Posted

The Arizona Department of Health Services is reporting 5,251 cases and 208 deaths of COVID-19 in the state as of Tuesday morning.

The Maricopa County Department of Public Health is reporting 2,719 cases and 84 deaths in Arizona's most populous county.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

The AZDHS updated its COVID-19 data dashboard, providing more information like case rates per 100,000 and detailed demographic data.

The department also has a map that shows the number of cases in each ZIP code. Some include cases at hospitals.

To date, the Sun City-associated ZIP codes of 85351 and 85373 have 31-35 cases. The Sun City West ZIP code of 85375 has 6-10 cases. Keep in mind that there are several communities within these three ZIPs that are not part of either Sun City or Sun City West. This includes the communities of Crossriver, Dos Rios and Corte Bella to name a few. Banner Boswell and Del E. Webb Medical Centers are also located in the Sun Cities and may carry some of the case counts.

The Tucson ZIP code of 85714 has the most with 104, followed by Mesa’s 85206 with 103 and Peoria’s 85382 with 102.

Other ZIP codes of note:

85202 (Mesa): 80

85257 (Scottsdale): 71

85224 (Chandler): 65

86040 (Page/Northern AZ): 63

85032 (Phoenix): 48

85301 (Glendale): 38

85253 (Paradise Valley): 34

The battle of addiction

Before the world was turned upside down, Arizona was, and still is, in the midst of a longterm fight against opioids — highly addictive substances that have wrecked havoc on thousands of lives.

The Arizona Department of Health Services is amongst those taking charge to fight the drugs, while local law officials are seeing the rise of a synthetic type of drug — which carries a high risk of death.

While much of the American population stays home to do their part in stopping the spread of COVID-19, addiction doesn’t falter in its constant appetite. However, through technology the fight against addiction can continue regardless of a person’s location or situation.

Click here to read more.

A place for those in need

To helps some of its residents in need of housing assistance, Glendale is allocating money toward a new public housing development and revamping its application process to make it more accessible and keep residents from getting bogged down on the waitlist for housing assistance.

Helping Hands Housing Services, a subsidiary of UMOM, is building a 72-unit public housing apartment complex called Bethany Crossing near 69th Avenue and Bethany Home Road. Glendale is loaning $390,000 of federally allocated money for the $31.4 million project. The project is expected to break ground in late spring or early summer and is scheduled to finish by the end of July 2021.

For Glendale residents in need of housing assistance, being placed at the bottom of a waitlist might discourage them from even applying. After changes approved by City Council last week, residents just added to the waitlist will have a chance of being selected before others on the list, based on need and on a random lottery.

Rally at the Capitol

Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Capitol Monday — virtually none wearing masks — to object to orders by Gov. Doug Ducey requiring people to stay at home and closing what he says are non-essential businesses.

The event drew people with signs and complaints about everything from gun rights to whether boys should be circumcised. And there were dozens promoting the reelection of President Trump.

But the common thread was a belief that the fears of COVID-19 are overblown, the governor’s orders are damaging the economy — and that all this is part of a liberal and media-fed agenda.

“I love our country and I love our Constitution and I love our flag, and I love freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” said Jamie Jacobs of Scottsdale, dressed in red, white and blue and carrying an American flag. “And I feel that’s being tread on right now. There’s a bigger agenda going on.”

Chandler facility cites 13 deaths

According to ABC15, Pennington Gardens senior living facility in Chandler has had 13 people die due to COVID-19. They've also seen 14 other residents and nine staff members test positive.

Compass Living, the parent company for the Chandler facility, emailed Independent Newsmedia the following statement:

We have been in daily communication with our residents, families, and team members regarding the situation surrounding COVID-19 in our community and have taken effort to be transparent in our communication with them. Unfortunately, our community is among the now 75 (reported) long-term care communities in Maricopa County to experience COVID-19 cases. We are pleased that we have five team members that have recovered, and no team members have passed away from our community. We also are pleased that we have residents showing signs of recovery. We can also report that the positive cases in our community have been limited to assisted living, and we have had no positive cases in our memory care community. Over the past few weeks when COVID-19 was first discovered in our community, we began working with the local health authority and primary care physicians of our residents to test all residents and employees. Despite limitations on testing availability, we have been successful in getting test results back for a majority of our residents and team members. As such, we have a better and broader view of the cases in our community. As we’ve discovered, even elders can be positive for COVID-19 and not display any symptoms; making the depth and breadth of cases difficult to ascertain without testing. We continue to work to get the remaining residents and employees tested so our response can continue to be tailored with all the information at hand.

We reached out to state and local health authorities immediately upon learning of our first case and have been following appropriate guidance from the federal, state, and local level. We have had stringent precautions in place for over the past six weeks which have included allowing only essential visitors and team members to enter, screening of all employees and essential visitors prior to entry, physical distancing within our community, enhanced cleaning procedures, and careful monitoring of all residents for any symptoms associated with COVID-19. Added precautions to limit any potential spread within the community include:

  • Team members are wearing added personal protective equipment (PPE) at all times while working, including masks, eyewear, and protective gowns.
  • Regular emphasis and education is provided on the proper use of PPE.
  • All residents are currently being provided services (including meals) inside their apartments for the time being.
  • All residents are being monitored multiple times per day for fever and any signs of respiratory issues.
  • Several employees are staying in the community or at a hotel to help protect their families and prevent further spread of the virus.

These procedures are designed to contain and limit the virus, minimizing the risk of spread to any other individuals. We are working with Maricopa County, local healthcare providers, and laboratories to provide expanded testing to residents and team members. At this time, nearly  all of our residents and team members have been tested.

We will continue to keep the safety of our residents and team members our absolute priority. We are in daily communication with our residents, their families, and our team members to provide them with clear information and updates as we have them. We are heartened by the tremendous spirit we’ve seen displayed by our residents, team members, and our residents’ families, as we’ve all responded to this unprecedented situation.

Cases per 100,000 in Arizona counties

  • Navajo: 437.2
  • Apache: 314.4
  • Coconino: 238.4
  • Pima: 92.0
  • Maricopa: 61.0
  • Pinal: 57.9
  • Others below 50 cases per 100,000

*Uses 2019 estimates from U.S. Census Bureau and confirmed AZDHS cases