Pima County's health system is in danger of being overwhelmed, and its health department has issued a new public health advisory on COVID-19.
The new advisory continues to mandate mask wearing and a nightly curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. It also asks residents to limit gatherings to fewer than 10 people and asks all businesses to reduce their occupancy to 25%.
Hospital capacity is a concern, said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Francisco Garcia. As of Monday morning, Pima County’s ICU bed capacity was nearly full with less than 5% availability.
He said that emergency service personnel are warning "we are in deep trouble, things are getting tighter and tighter and we are starting to reach a breaking point.”
Modeling indicates that at this rate, Pima County’s health care system will be overwhelmed within the next two to three weeks.
The limitations on gatherings and on business occupancy are voluntary, as are the continued requests to stay home, especially people over the age of 65 or who are medically vulnerable.
“It is really not very smart to be in a gathering with individuals with a variety of different households. That is something that carries significant risk so we are asking you to limit your gathering to 10 people or less," Garcia said.
