Gov. Doug Ducey says Arizona seeing signs coronavirus is flattening
Jul 10, 2020, 4:15 AM | Updated: 3:10 pm
(Youtube Screenshot/Arizona Department of Health Services)
(Youtube Screenshot/Arizona Department of Health Services)
PHOENIX — The same day Arizona reported 4,057 new coronavirus cases, Gov. Doug Ducey said the state is starting to experience signs of a flattening COVID-19 curve.
“I do want to point out that if you look at what has happened over the last week, we see our first flattening and slight decrease,” Ducey said during a press conference on Thursday.
The governor pointed to data related to R-naught — the average number of people who are infected by an infectious individual — which showed a decrease from 1.18 on June 29 to 1.1 on Thursday.
The same figure had been measured to be 1.08 on Wednesday.
Ducey also pointed to coronavirus cases over the last week to support his claim the state had made some progress during the last seven days.
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Over the last week, the Arizona Department of Health Services reported decreases of day-to-day COVID-19 cases three separate times.
Cases decreased from 4,433 on Friday to 2,695 on Saturday; 3,536 on Sunday to 3,352 on Monday and 3,635 on Tuesday to 3,520 on Wednesday.
“This is encouraging,” Ducey said.
“It’s encouraging that the actions can have a result and further actions can have a greater result.”
During the same press conference, Ducey announced he had signed an executive order limiting restaurant dine-in capacity to 50% throughout the state.
He also announced a partnership with Sonora Quest Laboratories that will provide the processing of up to 35,000 tests per day by the end of July and 60,000 per day by the end of August.
On June 29, Ducey issued an executive order ordering bars, nightclubs, gyms, movie theaters and water parks to close for at least 30 days in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
