Arizona doctor: hospitals seeing massive virus surge

An Arizona doctor is warning that a "massive surge" in COVID-19 patients threatens to overwhelm hospitals in his state.

Dr. Matt Heinz, a physician at Tucson Medical Center, believes relaxed restrictions and failure to wear masks led to a record number of cases.

"We're very close to overwhelming our hospitals in terms of number of beds and also number of ICU beds. That's t a good place to be at all. And we're t only state in this position," he said.

Heinz, who is running for a seat on Pima County Board of Supervisors and previously served in state Legislature, said state may need to shut down businesses and workplaces to slow down spre of coronavirus.

"We still absolutely have to bring this curve down and get it to flatten and n go or direction, so we can make sure that to have equate hospital to care for everybody in community who needs care," he said.

Arizona is one of several states reporting a surge in COVID-19 cases, prompting ministrators and health experts to warn that politicians and a tired-of-being-cooped-up public are letting a disaster unfold.

U.S. recorded a one-day total of 34,700 new COVID-19 cases, highest level since late April, when number peaked at 36,400, according to count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

While newly confirmed infections have been declining steily in early hot spots such as New York and New Jersey, several or states set single-day records this week, including Arizona, California, Mississippi, Neva, Texas and Oklahoma.

Arizona on Tuesday reported 79 ditional deaths from COVID-19, but health officials said two-thirds of increase resulted from analysis of deaths t previously attributed to COVID-19.

Department of Health Services on Tuesday h reported ditional 42 deaths.

Department spokesman Chris Minnick said 53 of ditional deaths reported Wednesday were identified as caused by COVID-19 through analysis of an accumulation of death certificates. last such analysis of an accumulation of death certificates occurred in May, he said.

department on Wednesday reported 1,795 ditional cases, raising Arizona's total to 59,974. increase was smaller than those reported on or recent days, including a record 3,591 Tuesday.

department reported 2,270 people were hospitalized Tuesday because of COVID-19, up from 2,136 Monday.

number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care beds dropped to 581 Tuesday from a record 614 Monday.

Arizona has emerged as a hotspot since Gov. Doug Ducey lifted stay-home orders in May.

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

(Representative Im)