Arizona is one of six states set to get federal aid for stressed hospitals as the omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads nationwide. The White House on Tuesday announced plans to start deploying medical personnel immediately to Arizona, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The White House said emergency response teams will include clinical personnel and paramedics to assist in strained hospitals.
Jessica Rigler, with the Arizona Department of Health Services, told KJZZ News the state is still awaiting details about how many health care workers are coming and when they’ll arrive.
“We anticipate that they will be coming to facilities in Yuma and Cochise counties based on a federal resource request that we put in a few weeks ago requesting medical staff for seven hospitals in the state," Rigler said.
Arizona’s hospitals remain dangerously close to capacity while the state continues to report thousands of new COVID-19 infections each day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Arizona has recently been reporting the highest per capita COVID-19 death rate in the country — more than twice as high as the national rate.
