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Valleywise Chief Clinical Officer: ICU Is Currently At 98% Capacity

Health-care providers throughout Arizona are struggling to keep up with the current surge in COVID-19 cases. Valleywise Health’s chief clinical officer gave an update Wednesday on the latest challenges.

Hospital capacity has become a growing concern for health officials around the state.

Dr. Michael White is the chief clinical officer for Valleywise Health. He says their ICU is currently at 98% capacity, with only one more bed available. 

He acknowledged the state has seen other surge patterns throughout the pandemic, but he believes cases will soon reach a new peak.  

“I anticipate you know, we're going to see a peak here starting at the, it will start to climb towards the end of this week, peaking, you know, probably towards the end of next week or that week before Christmas," White said. 

White encouraged Arizonans to continue mitigation efforts, including wearing a mask, maintaining social distance and staying home when sick.

Hunter Brownstein was an intern at KJZZ from 2020 to 2021.