Arizona between hecatomb and inaction

Business is going very well for Al Asta, owner of Whitney & Murphy funeral home in Phoenix, Arizona. But it would have been good without this success. Under the circumstances.

“The pressure has been very strong on our salon since last October, as on all funeral homes in the United States for that matter,” fatally drops the man, met between two ceremonies on Sunday morning, in his establishment in the east of the city. “Since the beginning of January, we have had twice as many funerals as during the same period last year. And the trend is far from declining. The coronavirus is a deadly virus. But it seems that we haven’t fully realized it yet here. “

Arizona jumped first among U.S. states for resurgence of infection cases on Sunday, the highest in the country in the past seven days, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The rate of contamination was 117 cases detected per 100,000 inhabitants, against 66.8 cases nationwide.

The lethal consequence of the disease is also reaching new heights, with a total of 12,238 deaths recorded here since the start of the pandemic, or 169 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. By comparison, this rate is 108 in Quebec, where a total of 253,000 cases of infection have been detected since the start of the health crisis. That’s three times less than in Arizona, a state of 7 million people.

These are people who would probably still be alive if we had taken the necessary measures to protect themselves.

“Mortality is unusually high here,” says Al Asta. 35% to 40% of the more funerals we organize are for people who have been affected by the virus. On Sunday, a 63-year-old man was among them. The day before, they were six. Two weeks ago, the Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix had to install two outdoor morgues, in refrigerated trucks, to accommodate a surplus of bodies that far exceeds the capacity of its hospitals in the city. “These are people who would undoubtedly still be alive if we had taken the necessary measures to protect themselves,” adds Mr. Asta.

For Joe Gerald, a professor of public health at the University of Arizona and a member of the statewide pandemic modeling team, the sad toll was “predictable”, however, due to the weakness of policies to counter the spread of the virus taken since last year and the lack of enforcement of the few measures that have been adopted. “Restaurants, bars, sports halls, cinemas are always open,” he said in an interview with Duty, and this, after timid restrictions imposed last spring and which were abandoned during the summer under pressure from defenders of the economy and business. The call for teleworking and the wearing of masks in business had, among other things, been launched, but as a possibility, not an obligation. “Despite the rise in cases and warnings from public health professionals about the arrival of a second wave, the state has not done more. In the absence of action, municipalities have responded to their best, but they have limited public health powers. “

On Sunday, the streets of Phoenix were empty, as were the parking lots of several businesses, but the rain, which rarely falls on this corner of the United States, explained more this desertion of the place, rather than the pandemic, according to Al Asta. “When the weather gets better, people come out,” he said. The restaurants, the terraces are full, and it is through these places that contamination occurs. It doesn’t make sense to go out to eat in a restaurant, go to the movies, or go to a gym right now. But thousands of people still do. “

As the United States passed the symbolic mark of 25 million COVID-19 cases on Sunday and nears 420,000 deaths, in Arizona, wearing a mask is still and always recommended, but it is not mandatory in closed public places or when the distance of two meters between individuals cannot be respected, such as at the grocery store.

Ironically, on Saturday, while re-electing the controversial and highly polarizing Kelli Ward, a pro-Trump pro-Trump, the state’s Republican Party passed a censure motion against Republican Gov. Doug Ducey because of the measures. that he adopted last year to fight the coronavirus. Arizona passed into the Democratic camp last November, for the first time since 1996, but supporters of the ex-president are still very audible and influential there.

“Arizona is unlikely to adopt new measures in the future,” says Joe Gerald. At this point, vaccination remains our primary strategy to fight COVID-19. And for this reason, the toll is likely to get even worse. “

In the large parking lot of State Farm Stadium in Phoenix, in the west of the city, the drive-in vaccination campaign was in full swing on Sunday, for the moment targeting people aged 75 and over. Only. ” It is done ! My 81-year-old mom just got her first dose and that reassures me, ”said Ava, smiling gaze over her mask, as she stepped out of the parking lot behind the wheel of her SUV. “I, on the other hand, will have to wait a bit longer. “

In the last days, the discovery that some people accompanying people with priority in the vaccination process also received the vaccine in this parking lot aroused indignation, due to the low number of vaccines available in Arizona. “There isn’t enough for everyone. We need to focus on those who are hit hardest by the virus, those 75 and over, ”said Dana Kennedy, regional director of the American Association of RetiredPersons, an advocacy organization for retirees, in essence. in the pages of Arizona Republic, while condemning a practice that the local authorities have nevertheless qualified as “marginal” and “exceptional measure”.

On Sunday, four senior officials in the new Biden administration tried to reassure Americans and called for patience, pointing out that the largely flawed Trump-era legacy supply and vaccination structure had yet to be improved to regain control over the pandemic. “We need more vaccines, more people to vaccinate and more vaccination sites,” Ron Klain, Joe Biden’s chief of staff, said on NBC.

The new president has set a goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of his presidency. Twenty million doses have been administered to date, out of 41 million distributed across the country, according to the latest CDC figures.

This report was funded with support from the Transat International Journalism FundThe duty.

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