In Arizona, we're in dire straits. We have the refrigerated trucks in Maricopa County (Phoenix and surrounding suburbs; half the population of the entire state) because the morgues here are full.
Do not believe for one second the bullshit map shown on CNN where Arizona suddenly turned green as if our cases somehow magically started declining. What a joke. Two weeks ago, we had the highest infection rate in the whole world based on test results from one site provided for 4.5 million people where you have to wait in line in your car for 8-12 hours just to get swabbed.
Once the abysmal state of affairs here hit the national news, our Rethug "governor," Douchebag Ducey, started shutting down the numbers. One of only two labs doing the testing here suddenly stopped reporting anything and the other developed a two-week delay before those getting tested are allowed to see results.
Funny how Arizona on CNN's map turned white for several days, indicating no data provided, and then all of a sudden it changed to green with no questions asked. There's no national reporting of either the testing fiasco going on here or about how doctors and medical examiners have now switched to classifying "cause of death" for COVID-19 patients to that of pneumonia, influenza, cardiac arrest, etc.---basically any condition developed as a result of the virus that can then be blamed. In that way, these patients no longer get counted as COVID-19 deaths.
Meanwhile, our hospitals have been ordered by Douchebag to institute a system of death panel score cards for acceptance of COVID-19 patients, essentially prioritizing which lives are to be saved and which to turn away from the hospitals so as to avoid headlines indicating hospitals at 100% capacity. Also, by dying at home, anyone turned away from the hospitals will not be counted in Arizona's COVID-19 death count.
I know two persons with the virus who were air-vacced to hospitals out of state (one to Vegas, the other to Albuquerque) because they couldn't get into an ICU here because their death probability score was too high. Let that sink in for a moment: "You're likely to die and we can't have you adding to our coronavirus death toll, so you have to go home to die---unless, of course, you happen to have a health insurance plan that will cover air vaccing you out of state."
I'm guessing most don't have premium health insurance that will cover air ambulatory service, and the cost of paying for such on one's own is prohibitive. I have an infected neighbor who's in that exact situation. She's pretty sick and tested positive weeks ago. Her health insurance doesn't cover a regular ambulance ride in a vehicle, let alone air vac. The first time she went to the hospital, she was turned away because she wasn't sick enough. The second time she went to the hospital, she was turned away because she was too sick and, oh yeah, she's on the wrong end of Douchebag's death panel scoring system.
I call her multiple times a day because she lives alone and has no family here. She's scared out of her mind. We're leaving prepared dishes for her on her porch because she's getting so weak she can't stand up for long to cook. This is all just so heartbreaking.
And this is exactly how Rethug governors cook the books when it comes to hiding what's going on with the pandemic in their states. As for my state, once again Arizona Rethugs have proven that no one is going to take away their #1 trifecta trophy for excellency in corruption, greed, and downright evilness.
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