(Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
PHOENIX – More than half of Arizona’s counties are now classified as a country with a significant spread of coronavirus, as determined by the state health department’s COVID-19 business and school dashboards.
However, state officials have opposed the closing of businesses or the imposition of further capacity restrictions in the now eight counties with significant dispersion.
Thursday’s weekly update of corporate and school dashboards reclassified Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise, Greenlee and Graham counties to substantial spread status.
Last week, Yavapai, Apache and Navajo became the first provinces to regain substantial status since reopening began in August. All 15 counties had left substantial status on October 1, and all 15 could return to that status by next week.
The school benchmarks were intended to guide K-12 public districts and charters in their decisions about opening levels. However, districts have the final say on whether they offer virtual, hybrid or traditional forms of learning.
For schools, substantial status means that the Arizona Department of Health Services recommends classes online only.
Kathy Hoffman, Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, said on Twitter that more risk mitigation strategies were needed so schools could safely return to face-to-face learning.
The business benchmarks are state requirements for establishments previously closed under the Doug Ducey government in June: indoor gyms, bars that serve as restaurants, theaters, water parks, and tubing venues.
Those companies could not reopen until the spread of COVID-19 in their countries was in the average or minimum range in all three dashboard metrics for at least the two most recent data weeks.
But when the counties moved back to a substantial spread in all three metrics, the state put no additional restrictions on businesses.
“Most companies have done an excellent job of following mitigation requirements, and there are no plans at this time to shut down companies under the executive order,” said Steve Elliott, the communications director of the state health service. KTAR News 92.3 FM in an email last week after the first three counties regained substantial status.
“We continue to urge Arizonans to focus on taking precautions during small private gatherings. Too often people who comply with mitigation requirements at companies and elsewhere give up their vigilance when they are around people they know and trust, such as wearing masks and keeping a physical distance. “
Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, said KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Thursday that companies have not made a major contribution to the ongoing spike in business. She said a recent New York study showed that about three-quarters of transmission takes place in homes.
“Our data shows that only 14% of people say so [being] in public or in large groups is where they think they got it, ”she said.
Dashboards are updated once a week with data that is at least 12 days old to account for reporting delays, so assessments are based on accurate statistics. The latest update covers the weeks starting November 22nd and 29th (through December 5th).
The dashboards are based on benchmarks in three metrics that measure how widespread the disease is in each province. The state of the province does not change until all three statistics reach a new stage for at least two consecutive weeks.
Each county is in the substantial range in two metrics for at least two weeks: cases per 100,000 residents and percent positivity for COVID-19 diagnostic tests.
But the measure of hospital visits for COVID-like illnesses in the region had kept all counties in moderate status until last week.
That statistic is based on regions – clusters of counties in the western, southeast, central, and northern parts of the state – and so the statuses are changing in bunches.
All seven counties still classified as moderate are within range of achieving substantial status next week as their regions have entered the substantial range for the most recent week of data in the hospital visits for COVID-like illnesses.