PHOENIX — When Mayor Kate Gallego announced her emergency declaration in Phoenix, she said she was guided by hospitals in the Valley and the shortages they believe they will face.
Now, a Valley emergency physician is speaking out and says the shortages are real.
“Doctors and nurses will have to make heartbreaking decisions about who lives and who doesn’t,” said Mayor Kate Gallego.
In a Skype interview with 12 News, Gallego had a dire warning, painting a scary picture of what hospitals in the Valley will look like if they don’t get the support they need.
“Our hospital system needs our residents to take this seriously. This is a crisis,” Gallego said.
Emergency physicians like Dr. Nicholas Vasquez are facing that crisis head on.
“I want everybody to know that we’re doing everything we can,” Vasquez said
Vasquez has been practicing for 15 years.
“I’m a veteran of Ebola, I’m a veteran of SARS, of MERS, of H1N1. The closest this comes to is like 9/11,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez said bed shortages are a top concern in Arizona.
“I think it’s safe to say that most of the hospitals around the Valley are near or at capacity already,” Vasquez said.
According to a new Harvard study, if 20 percent of Phoenix’s population gets COVID-19 within the next six months, patients would need every single hospital and ICU bed in the city and then some.
“There’s not a huge capacity already waiting to be expanded into,” Vasquez said.
Equipment shortages are another hurdle doctors and nurses are facing. Vasquez says their supply of personal protective equipment, or PPE, like masks is already low.
Vasquez said he believes because hospitals were close to capacity even before the outbreak, the supply of ventilators is low too.
“The potential shortage of ventilators is real,” Vasquez said.
But Vasquez said there are steps Arizonans can take to help.
“Everybody stays home and we do school closures. We do social distancing,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez said the next few months will be difficult but the sooner society takes the outbreak seriously, the sooner life will get back to normal.
“You don’t have to be afraid. You have to be aware,” Vasquez said.
