PHOENIX (AP) – As COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions rise again and the holiday season approaches, the head of one of Phoenix’s largest hospital systems again on Wednesday calls for unvaccinated people to be vaccinated. Valleywise Health’s Michael White said the majority of her patients who were hospitalized with severe symptoms were unvaccinated. Valleywise is currently caring for more than 40 COVID-19 patients, up from 20 three weeks earlier. In a media briefing, White called for the use of masks when families with mixed vaccination status plan to gather for Thanksgiving or Christmas. “If you are in an indoor area with no people you live with, it is time to keep wearing a mask, even if you are vaccinated at this point – only with the spread that we see in the community”, said White. The rise in cases also coincides with a “backlog” for routine procedures that require hospital stays. This double blow puts a strain on the staff, most of whom are now vaccinated. “Our people here are constantly being beaten up by the number of people we see around us, and the system is being put under increased stress,” said White. The state health ministry reported 2,315 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 on Tuesday, a high not seen since mid-February. Hospital admissions have been over 2,000 for the past eight days, with the number rising to one each day. The dashboard also recorded 3,459 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 16 more deaths. That brings the state’s pandemic to a total of 1,223,892 cases and 21.752 deaths. Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that Arizona’s rolling seven-day case average was about 3,564 on Tuesday, up from about 3,001 on November 1st. The rolling seven-day average death rate fell from 50.8 to 35.7 over the same period. The state’s coronavirus dashboard also showed that more than 4.3 million Arizonans – 60.9% of the state’s population – had received at least one dose of vaccine. Over 3.8 million residents of the state are fully vaccinated, which is approximately 53% of the population.
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