Arizona’s coronavirus dashboard down most of the day due to ‘overwhelming demand’ on website

Arizona’s data dashboard on COVID-19 cases has been down most of Friday as there has been an uptick in traffic to the website.

State health officials said on Friday that they are experiencing technical issues due to ‘overwhelming demand.’

The demand likely because people from around the country are logging in to Arizona’s dashboard to see the latest numbers as the cases are rising.

The dashboard came back online just before 4 p.m. and showed Arizona breaking more records in hospitalizations.

On Thursday, Governor Doug Ducey admitted the percent positive is going in the wrong direction, however he did not make any policy changes to slow the spread in the state.

The governor is focused on public education, reminding people to wash their hands, stay home if you’re sick, and will come out with a campaign next week. He also advises Arizonans to continue to social distance and if you can’t wear a mask.

The theme of Arizona’s press conference this week was: Arizona has hospital capacity.

Governor Ducey even mentioned the phrase dozens of times to reassure Arizonans there’s a hospital bed if you get too sick.

“I want every Arizonan to be able to have the medical care and comfort and resources necessary, and today we are able to provide that,” he said.

Former director of Arizona Department of Health Services, Will Humble said there are policies in place to help slow the spread.

Some options: standards in place for businesses to comply with social distancing, giving cities or counties back control over decisions, mandating masks while indoors, more mandatory testing in long term care facilities and contact tracing.

“The final thing is contact tracing at the county health departments, we’ve lost some time and opportunity with that one because the stay at home order could have been contingent on counties having the kind of contact tracing that we need to be effective,” said Humble.

Humble also agrees with the governor’s statements that we have the capacity, but he adds, for now.

“It looks to me like there's a real chance in early July we won’t be able to make that same statement that the governor made yesterday, because we won't be in a position where theres adequate existing licensed capacity and then we’re into surge mode,” he said.