COVID-19 cases across the state are down this week, but are expected to rise following the winter holidays. The Supreme Court ruled that a Trump-era border restriction enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic will remain in effect while the court settles the issue.
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the controversial Title 42 to remain in effect until it issues a ruling, despite Democratic states’ challenges to the rule and the Biden administration’s desire for the authority to end. According to the New York Times, Title 42 allows U.S. border agents to immediately refuse migrants who have crossed the border in the name of COVID-19 prevention. Immigrant advocates and public health experts have argued that this is an inappropriate use of public health authority.
Arizona was one of the 19 states that joined the lawsuit that made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court. It may be an ineffective measure, as Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) alleges it has lost $20 million in unpaid medical services for undocumented immigrants over the past six months, Fox News reports. And the losses aren’t COVID-related, as YRMC President Dr. Robert Transchel points out, it’s largely uncompensated routine or necessary medical care:
People always think they’re coming in with coughs and colds, but that’s not really the case. You have individuals come in that need dialysis, that need heart surgery, that need cardiac catheterization. We’ve had women come into our labor and delivery unit that have delivered infants that need to be in the neonatal ICU for sometimes months at a time.
The Arizona Department of Health Services COVID-19 data dashboard update for this week shows a significant drop, with 4,973 cases reported. However, deaths remain high with 144 new deaths reported since the week prior.
According to KJZZ, Arizona has now surpassed Mississippi for the highest per capita death toll from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. The highest numbers of COVID-19 deaths have come over the past two winter seasons and about 72% of Arizona’s deaths have been among people over the age of 65.
Coconino County moved into a low community transmission level, with new COVID-19 hospital admissions dropping to 4.9 per 100,000, the Arizona Daily Sun reports.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it is making an additional supply of Tamiflu available to certain regions affected by the strong flu season. Jurisdictions will work with regional teams from the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to evaluate any requests for Tamiflu through the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS).
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new indication for Actemra injection for the treatment of hospitalized adults with COVID-19 and approved two new emergency use authorizations (EUA) for over-the-counter at-home COVID-19 tests.
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