Arizona health director Christ stresses virus safety over Labor Day weekend
Sep 4, 2020, 10:08 AM | Updated: 11:05 am
(Andy Morrison/Detroit News via AP)
(Andy Morrison/Detroit News via AP)
PHOENIX — Arizona’s top public health official is stressing safety over the Labor Day weekend as a key metric measuring the spread rate of coronavirus is trending in the wrong direction in the state.
Dr. Cara Christ, the state’s public health director, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Friday that Arizonans are better off at home over the holiday weekend.
The guidance comes as Arizona’s R-naught value was 1.01 Thursday and has been climbing in recent days.
Any R-naught value over 1 means coronavirus is likely spreading quickly in a community.
“For the Labor Day weekend, we are recommending that Arizonans remember that you are safer at home,” Christ said. “If you want to socialize, do it with small, close groups and make sure you’re wearing a mask.”
Arizona’s R-naught value, which was once the best in the nation, has been steadily increasing since hitting a low of .81 on July 20.
Most metrics, however, have shown the state has done well staving off the virus since mitigation strategies were put into place more than a month ago.
For the 24,321 samples taken since Sunday that have been processed and recorded, the positive rate is 4%, down 1 percentage point from last week.
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Schools and shuttered businesses in most Arizona counties — including Maricopa — have started reopening measures recently after hitting required and recommended benchmarks.
But holiday weekends have been problematic in Arizona since the start of pandemic, most notably Memorial Day.
Christ said being vigilant is especially important since possible effects of the holiday weekend likely won’t be known until more than a week from now.
“If you figure that if people get exposed this weekend, most people are going to develop symptoms 3 to 5 days and likely will go for a test seven days after Labor Day weekend,” Christ said.
“And then it will take a day or two for us to get those results. So we would expect to see it probably between day 7 and 14.”
