A Phoenix emergency room doctor is criticizing the White House Coronavirus Task Force's assessment of Arizona’s rate of positive cases.
Vice President Mike Pence said at a briefing Wednesdaythere are "early indications of a percent of positive testing flattening in Arizona and Florida and Texas."
Dr. Deborah Birx also presented data prepared by the White House. Despite recording more than 108,000 infections and nearly 2,000 deaths, Brix said she is starting to see some encouraging signs.
"... [T]he seven-day average is showing some flattening, and we find that encouraging," said Birx.
Dr. Murtaza Akhter with the University of Arizona College of Medicine says he has no idea what they’re talking about. He says on Tuesday, the state hit a record for positive COVID-19 cases.
“You don’t need to be a math teacher to understand how to do the slope of a line. We aren’t flattening. And being flat at the worst place in the country isn’t good anyway," Akhter said. "Even if we were flat, that would be a terrible place to be flat at."
On Wednesday, Johns Hopkins data concluded Arizona has the highest daily percentage of positive cases in the country.
Akhter says hospitals are reaching their capacities and that it would take a miracle to not run out of beds. Arizona hospitals remain at critical capacity levels, reporting another record for inpatient cases and tying a high mark for ICU bed usage at 91%.
