COVID-19 Roundtable Update - 8/4

Welcome to August 2020 and the return of our COVID-19 Roundtable. Perhaps what’s changed more than anything in the last two weeks would be – in a word – confidence. There is increased confidence that Arizona has plateaued in terms of spread and healthcare resource utilization – although at a “high watermark.” There is increased confidence that we will see a vaccine sooner rather than later too, but many questions remain and we’ll talk about some of those today. Here is your weekly reminder: don’t stop being smart when it comes to COVID-19. Stay-at-home as much as you possibly can; wash up; mask up; maintain social distancing, and keep a heads up for your fellow Arizonans. The reason Arizonans can feel some confidence right now is because we’ve been doing more of what it takes to slow the spread. We need to be in this together in order to get out of this together. Alright, it’s time to talk about the numbers, Arizona’s testing capacity and turnaround times, K-12 schools reopening, Universities reopening, the latest on vaccines and a new segment we call “heard it through the grapevine.” In other words, it’s time to talk about what life with COVID-19 looks like as of August 3, 2020.