Monday, February 8, 2021
The University of Arizona has delivered 9,866 COVID-19 vaccines at a rate of 800 shots per day, according to President Dr. Robert C. Robbins.
The UA point of distribution, or POD, is targeted toward educators and childcare providers and has two vaccination sites: a drive-through location at the University of Arizona Mall and a walk-through clinic at the Ina E. Gittings building.
While operating as a vaccine distribution center, UA is basing its learning structures for students on the prevalence of coronavirus in the community.
Robbins lauded the state for its improvement in COVID-19 transmission. While Arizona held the highest rate of transmission in the country throughout most of January, it now ranks at No. 8 today.
If conditions continue to improve, the university will enter stage two of its reentry plan on Feb. 22 with up to 50 students attending classes in person. For now, it remains in stage one with in-person instruction for essential courses only.
From Jan. 28 to Feb. 6, UA administered 18,767 COVID-19 tests and found 127 positive cases for a positivity rating of 0.7%, down from last week’s percent positivity of 1.3%.
“Remember, we've tried to shoot for under 5%, and we've been significantly under 5% for a long time now. This last number is very, very encouraging,” Robbins said. “These are good signs, however, remain vigilant, continue to cover your face, wash your hands and keep distance from as many people as possible.”
With 2,250 new cases reported today, the total number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases closed in on 783,000 as of Monday, Feb. 8, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County, which reported 246 new cases today, has seen 104,921 of the state’s 782,887 confirmed cases.
With seven new deaths reported today, a total number of 14,055 Arizonans have died after contracting COVID-19, including 1,904 deaths in Pima County, according to the Feb. 8 report.
The number of hospitalized COVID cases statewide has declined in recent weeks, with 2,853 coronavirus patients in the hospital as of Feb. 7. That number peaked at 5,082 on Jan. 11. The summer peak was 3,517, which was set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent lowest number of hospitalized COVID patients was 468, set on Sept. 27, 2020.
A total of 1,419 people visited emergency rooms on Feb. 7 with COVID symptoms, down from the record high of 2,341 set on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. That number had peaked during the summer wave at 2,008 on July 7, 2020; it hit a subsequent low of 653 on Sept. 28, 2020.
PHOENIX – From the importance of personal protective equipment to dealing with the harsh isolation of quarantined patients, the medical community learned countless lessons during the first year of COVID-19, a pandemic unprecedented in modern times.
“Limiting it to one (lesson), it is how profound it is that social inequity kills people,” said Dr. Andrew Badley, infectious diseases specialist and head of the COVID-19 Research Task Force at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Badley was joined virtually by a panel of Mayo specialists, to reflect on the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the medical community and their hospitals’ response, sharing lessons they learned along the way.
Badley said disadvantaged populations are at risk because they work jobs deemed essential, which increases their potential for exposure to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and have less access to health care resources.
In Arizona, Mayo Clinic hospital medical director Dr. Alyssa Chapital said people who need care for ailments and conditions other than COVID-19 are not seeking treatment.
“Patients requiring hospitalization and, to some extent ICU, are dropping down,” the Phoenix-based physician said. “What we are seeing right now is delayed care that we have to address. We have a backlog of surgical procedures, and we are going to have to meet the need of that in hospitals, as well as the acute-care needs that will come along.”
The Arizona Department of Health Services reports more than 13,000 Arizonians have died since the first case was reported in the state in January 2020.
Friday, February 5, 2021
Henry Augustus Truhil was born at 8:44 a.m. after his mother, 33-year-old Nicole Truhill, experienced a headache, stiff neck and couldn’t keep food down, TMC said.
Upon evaluation, doctors at Canyon Vista Medical Center in Sierra Vista found Nicole suffered from placental abruption—a medical phenomenon that occurs when the placenta separates from the inner wall of the uterus before birth, which can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients while causing heavy bleeding in the mother.
Nicole was transferred to TMC in an emergency helicopter flight, while Henry’s father, Kyle Truhill, made the 78-mile drive.
Kyle arrived at TMC to find his wife prepped for an emergency C-section to deliver Henry only 25 weeks into her pregnancy. Doctors gave the baby a 50/50 chance of survival.
“When baby Henry was born, there was a tense stillness in the room until a tiny cry was let out, which provided Mom, Dad and hospital staff a small sense of relief,” TMC officials wrote in a press release.
The hospital said Henry has remained in stable condition this week and has received blood infusions to increase his oxygen levels. The baby has been breathing on his own, and Nicole is scheduled for discharge soon.
“I have never seen something so beautiful, small and fragile in my whole life,” Kyle said. “I felt overwhelmed with emotion in that moment…gratitude, a sense of miracle, relief and sheer terror all at the same time. I’ve never cried so much in my whole life as I have this week. We just want our baby to live.”
TMC said Henry has a long road to recovery ahead of him, but will ideally be released at the end of May or the beginning of June.
To support the astounding cost of the couple’s medical bills, Henry has a GoFundMe page at gofundme.com/f/help-micropreemie-henry.
Here, Henry’s progress will be documented and donations will be accepted to cover medical costs.
The 2021 Cologuard Classic is back at Omni Tucson National Resort last week of February, however, there will be no audience during the tournament’s scheduled events due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Tucson Conquistadores has confirmed they were unable to reach an agreement with the Pima County Health Department to allow spectators during this year’s Cologuard Classic despite offering numerous solutions to comply with social distancing measures, in an email by the organization’s staff.
“The Conquistadores have been working closely with Pima County officials to align COVID safety plans to allow limited spectators at this year’s tournament. Unfortunately, the tournament will go forward without spectators onsite,” according to the email.
Previously, the group’s chairman Dennis Caldwell said he thought the Conquistadores and local health department authorities were coming to an agreement and hoped to be able to announce the daily capacity during the tournament’s media day last month.
PHOENIX – Apprehensive Arizona parents of high school athletes can rest easier now.
Citing improving COVID-19 metrics, the Arizona Interscholastic Association executive board has amended its current attendance policy so that up to two parents or legal guardians of student-athletes can attend away games, the governing body announced via a release on Thursday afternoon.
Prior to Thursday’s announcement, parents and guardians could only attend home games of their children. The new rules will be in effect starting Feb. 8.
“It is at the discretion of the home school whether or not parent/legal guardian spectators are permitted,” the release said.
“Masks must be worn and social distancing requirements maintained.”
The news of the AIA’s decision comes after nearly a week of petitioning from local parents who believed their inability to attend games posed a safety hazard for their children. One Valley mother, Tiffany Hunt, organized this petition, which garnered nearly 4,000 signatures in a week.
With 3,826 new cases reported today, the total number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases surpassed 775,000 as of Friday, Feb. 5, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County, which reported 484 new cases today, has seen 103,932 of the state’s 775,622 confirmed cases.
With 196 new deaths reported today, a total number of 13,948 Arizonans have died after contracting COVID-19, including 1,899 deaths in Pima County, according to the Feb. 5 report.
The number of hospitalized COVID cases statewide has declined in recent weeks, with 3,167 coronavirus patients in the hospital as of Feb. 4. That number peaked at 5,082 on Jan. 11. The summer peak was 3,517, which was set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent lowest number of hospitalized COVID patients was 468, set on Sept. 27, 2020.
A total of 1,633 people visited emergency rooms on Feb. 4 with COVID symptoms, down from the record high of 2,341 set on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. That number had peaked during the summer wave at 2,008 on July 7, 2020; it hit a subsequent low of 653 on Sept. 28, 2020.
A total of 909 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit beds on Feb. 4, down from a peak of 1,183 set on Jan. 11. The summer’s record number of patients in ICU beds was 970, set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent low was 114 on Sept. 22, 2020.
How to get a vaccine
Currently, Pima County is providing vaccination shots to people 70 and older as well as educators, first responders and healthcare workers. Those who currently qualify in Pima County’s 1B priority group of eligible vaccine recipients can register for a vaccine at www.pima.gov/covid19vaccineregistration or by calling 520-222-0119.
State cuts Pima County vaccine allocation by 40 percent
The Arizona Department of Health Services told Pima County officials yesterday that the allocation of vaccine doses would be cut by 40 percent this week.
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court postponed upcoming hearings on two Trump administration immigration policies after both had been reversed on the first day of President Joe Biden’s term.
The court was scheduled to hear arguments in the coming weeks challenging then-President Donald Trump’s ability to divert Defense Department funds to border wall construction and on the administration’s Migration Protection Protocol. The so-called “remain in Mexico” policy required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases were processed in the U.S.
But Biden halted border wall construction on Inauguration Day, and his acting Homeland Security secretary stopped the MPP a day later.
That would have left government lawyers in the position of defending policies the president opposed, leading Acting U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar to ask the court Monday to take the cases off the calendar for now as moot. The court did so without comment.
In a tweet, the American Civil Liberties Union said it was a “good sign that the Biden administration doesn’t want to see us in court to defend these illegal policies.” It went on to call on the president to “rescind the forced return to Mexico policy, give those subjected to it a fair and safe asylum process, and tear down the wall.”
The remain-in-Mexico policy was enacted in January 2019, reversing previous Obama administration guidance that let migrants enter the country and begin living in the U.S. while they were seeking asylum.
