A man is given a COVID-19 test in his car at a drive-thru test site in Phoenix on June 27. Matt York / AP
As coronavirus cases in Arizona continue to soar, Mayor Kate Gallego said Phoenix faces “a huge lack of testing.”
“People have been waiting in line for eight hours in hot cars when they are sick, waiting for tests,” he said. “We are five months in the United States. People who want exams don’t have to wait that long.”
Gallego said there was a need for low barrier testing. He asked the federal government and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a mass testing site in Phoenix, but the request had been denied.
“I believe a surge in testing can help us with guaranteed deposits, and we also need help to process these tests. People have to wait more than a week to get results. This is critical health information that they need to live their daily lives, he said. “We need our federal government to partner with us. I took all the city resources we could and tested them. We have librarians and park workers who assist in testing, but their strength and efficacy can be increased if we have specialized medical experts who know about testing. “
William Haseltine, a former Harvard Medical School professor, claims that Arizona applies crisis care standards, which means, “if you are old, you will be sent home without treatment and you die.”
“Unfortunately, our medical professionals do not have the resources they need and so they are asked to make difficult decisions,” Gallego said, responding to Haseltine’s comments. He stressed that people who experience emergency conditions such as heart attacks must still go to the emergency room and that they will receive treatment.
“There is an ability to care for individuals, but we do not meet the standards of care in all the cases we want. We are already very tense with intensive care beds, “he explained.
Medical professionals were exhausted and asked for reinforcements, while warning that “the worst is yet to come,” Gallego said.
