PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona on Tuesday reported a record number of additional COVID-19 deaths along with new hospitalization highs, leaving the state with the worst rate of new infections nationwide.
The Department of Health Services reported 253 additional deaths, exceeding the previous one-day record of 172 reported on July 30. The state also reported 5,932 additional COVID-19 cases, raising the state’s totals since the pandemic began to 567,474 cases and 9,317 deaths.
The department said the additional deaths included 215 newly attributed to COVID-19 through a periodic reviews of death certificates. The agency could not specify when the 215 deaths occurred, Department spokeswoman Holly Poynter said.
A record 4,789 COVID-19 patients occupied hospital beds Monday, an increase of more than 200 from Sunday, according to the state’s coronavirus data. Monday also saw a record 1,096 COVID-19 patients in intensive care beds.
Arizona on Sunday reported a record one-day total of 17,234 additional cases. As of Tuesday, the state had the worst COVID-19 diagnosis rate in the nation with one person in every 126 people being diagnosed with COVID-19 over the past week.
The diagnosis rate is calculated by dividing a state’s population by the number of new cases.
Arizona’s hospitals have been stressed by the surge, with some stopping elective surgeries and turning away ambulance runs and hospital transfers while still accepting walk-in patients needing emergency care.
Gov. Doug Ducey has ignored calls from hospital administrators for more restrictions such as a statewide mask mandate or a temporary ban on indoor dining.
The governor argued that mask policies should be decided by local officials. Also, he believes any bans affecting restaurants, bars and clubs would only lead to people being out of work.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
In another development, two major school districts in metro Phoenix narrowly avoided a planned teacher sickout by putting off plans to reopen for full-time, in-person instruction.
The Chandler school board voted late Monday to keep students in online instruction until Jan. 19, a day after the Martin Luther King holiday. Originally, the district had planned to resume in-person classes but students in grades 7-12 would have had the option to attend remotely.
Katie Byrne Nash, president of the union representing Chandler teachers, called the decision “a huge relief.” Most teachers and some parents were vehemently opposed to returning to in-person instruction amid the surge of infections. She said most of the hundreds of teachers were satisfied and none planned to call out sick.
“I think everyone has a different definition and level of what they feel is safe,” Nash said. “In a global pandemic we have to do what’s best for the greater good.”
The district said Tuesday would be a teacher workday to prepare for online instruction that would resume Wednesday.
Jennifer Douglas, who has three children in the Chandler school district and is a former teacher, was sympathetic to the teachers’ concerns but also hoping her 12-year-old twins and 16-year-old daughter would be able to go back to school.
“We haven’t done anything deemed unsafe,” Douglas said. “I felt like sending my kids back to school would be OK. I felt like we did what we could to be responsible.”
The board of nearby Gilbert Public Schools decided Monday night to conduct hybrid learning through Jan. 29. Originally, the district had planned to only do it the first week back from the holidays and then transition to in-person instruction Jan. 11, according to the district website.
Ducey on Saturday rejected state Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman’s call for him to order a two-week “quarantine period” that would keep schools statewide in online learning unless they had waivers from public health officials.
Reopening for in-person classes amid the pandemic continues to be a contentious issue in some of the nation’s biggest school districts. Only half of teachers in Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest district in the U.S., showed up Tuesday ahead of the expected return of preschoolers next week. Schools there had been doing remote learning since March.
Meanwhile, campuses in Clark County School District in Las Vegas, are returning to distance-learning programs.
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