As COVID-19 cases continue to rise throughout the county, the health department is making plans to increase testing availability while monitoring a rising number of school-based cases and the potential for exposures as the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ reopens.
Dr. Theresa Cullen, Pima County’s health director, shared in a news conference Tuesday the county’s COVID-19 infection rate is at 165 cases per 100,000 of the population, meaning the region remains in a state of high transmission.
Pima County COVID-19 cases reported in August have already nearly doubled the cases reported in July, according to . According to Cullen, 87% of cases in the community are caused by the delta variant.
The increase in cases is creating a larger demand for testing. Cullen says the county is conducting about 1,400 COVID-19 tests a day.
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But meeting that demand will be difficult, as the state will no longer pay for the county’s COVID-19 testing through Paradigm Labs, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry wrote in a memo Tuesday.
Huckelberry said the state will still pay for testing at the Ellie Towne Community Center and the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ International Airport, but those locations are “far from our population centers.â€
“The state has sufficient funds to cover this expense,†Huckelberry wrote. “Why they have chosen to discontinue funding COVID-19 testing in Pima County is a mystery. Maybe they have spent the billion-plus dollars allocated to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ by the federal government.â€
Cullen says the county plans to set up a rapid antigen testing center Saturday at the Abrams Public Health Center, 3950 S. Country Club Road, but the exact details have not yet been announced.
COVID-19 tests are readily available at pharmacies and medical providers, but Cullen said the county is providing a new free testing option because “we wanted to ensure, because of our commitment to equity, that testing was available to everyone.â€
While the county used to sponsor a variety of free testing options, have since become limited. Most free testing options were previously paid for by the state, which took over the county’s contracts with Paradigm Laboratories, the contractor providing testing services. Cullen said those state-based resources have become scarce. Now, they’re down to two county locations.
“Based on the decreasing funding that is available through a state contract to another major contractor, we have taken that responsibility into the county and said we will stand up testing,†she said. “We will continue to monitor (the testing demand) and hopefully be able to ensure that we can meet the amount of testing required for the county.â€
Dr. Theresa Cullen, the county's public health director, talks about an increased need for testing, overcrowding in hospitals and concern for more COVID transmission as the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ reopens for fall classes. Video courtesy of Pima County.
Concern as UA reopens
Most of the area’s K-12 schools have reopened, and Cullen said the health department has identified 947 school-based cases while recommending over 4,000 faculty and students quarantine due to exposure.
And as more than 40,000 students begin classes at the UA, Cullen said she is “concerned about the impact of the university†when it comes to the already high rate of COVID-19 transmission in the county.
She said the health department is working closely with the university to determine testing options and identify outbreaks. To prevent university-based cases, Cullen hopes “that people are coming back vaccinated, if they’ve not been vaccinated, they will seek vaccination as soon as they’re in our community.â€
As of Tuesday, the CDC reports about 63% of the county’s population 12 and older eligible for a vaccine has been fully vaccinated. Cullen said, in the county, vaccinations are “very slowly increasingâ€
Some hospitals near capacity
At “more than one hospital†throughout the past week, Cullen said patients have been waiting for ICU beds to open.
“What we see in that situation … people waiting for ICU beds, meaning they’re waiting, usually in an emergency room or taking up an emergency bed, which means the ambulances trying to drop off people can’t drop those people off.â€
But the influx of patients is not only coming from COVID-19, Cullen says. She estimates COVID-based cases make up 15% to 20% of admissions, but “the other 80% are admitted to the hospital for multiple things.â€
Hospitals are still conducting elective surgeries but also dealing with chronic diseases such as “diabetes out of control, congestive heart failure, people that come to the emergency room and subsequently get admitted with a heart attack or other illnesses like that,†Cullen said.
The public-health director isn’t sure why this is happening right now, but said: “There is speculation it is because people put off access to their provider for chronic diseases.â€
Delta variant casts shadow of uncertainty over UA’s return to in-person operations
