Phoenix-based Banner Health Chief Clinical Officer Marjorie Bessel, MD, is urging government officials to implement statewide COVID-19 mitigation strategies, according to CBS 5.
Dr. Bessel is asking Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to stop indoor dining and to impose a statewide curfew and mask mandate as a COVID-19 surge continues to strain hospitals in the state. Banner Health suspended elective surgeries Jan. 1, and its Arizona hospitals continue to operate near 100 percent capacity, Dr. Bessel said at a Jan. 6 news conference, according to the report.
"We need mitigation and enforcement. Don't make us ration care," Dr. Bessel told reporters at the news conference, according to CBS 5.
Arizona reported more than 7,200 new cases of COVID-19 Jan. 6. Joshua LaBaer, MD, PhD, director of the Biodesign Institute research center at Arizona State University, said Arizona has become the COVID-19 "hot spot of the world," according to ABC News.