COVID-19 Trends in Arizona

COVID-19 is a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. SARS, MERS, Ebola, and swine flu don’t come close in the number of deaths and disruption of COVID-19 to the economy and everyday life. Today, just three months since the pandemic was formally announced, saw the largest number of new confirmed daily cases at 134,705 globally.

Members who read Alcor News will have been alerted to how we have prepared Alcor’s offices and services here in Arizona for the COVID-19 pandemic. Until very recently, Arizona was one of the least affected states. That has not made much difference to Alcor and its staff since we still have to care for members throughout the country and abroad – and we have to take special precautions to remain uninfected and ready to respond.

The Arizona situation has changed. Along with states such as California and Texas, Arizona has moved close to the top of the list of new cases per day. The first case detected in Arizona was on January 26, 2020. This was a 20-year-old male student of Arizona State University (ASU), who had traveled to Wuhan, China. Curiously, this case was the fifth reported COVID-19 case overall in the United States at the time. Despite that and unlike Washington, Arizona did not see an early rapid rise in cases.

In Arizona, May 25th marked a transition from lengthening to shortening doubling times. In the last week, the doubling time has continued to shorten. On May 1, there were 7,962 confirmed cases, an increase of 314. Today, on June 10 (the end of the day determined by GMT), there were 29,852 cases, an increase of 1,556. That’s a disturbingly rapid daily increase of 5.5%.

Whatever the future holds, Alcor remains prepared and ready. We have been lucky so far. That appears to be changing. Arizona will no longer be a good place to move to in order to avoid infection. If you have major medical issues and are considering relocating near Alcor, you should speak with Blake Honiotes, Alcor’s Medical Response Director.

–Max More
Ambassador and President Emeritus, Alcor Foundation