Gov. Doug Ducey announced at a news conference April 22 that the state will reopen in phases, beginning with restoring elective surgeries beginning May 1.

"Our approach going forward will be phased," Ducey said. "It will be based on up-to-date data. It will mitigate the risk of resurgence. We have come a long way in a short period of time as a state."

The governor's "Stay Home, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected" order is still in place, but Ducey has added "Return Stronger" to the end. The order is set to expire April 30.

"Looking back there were a lot of unknowns, there are still unknowns in front of us," Ducey said during the news conference. "Our priority is on public health. These closings happened in an effort to slow the spread of this virus. None of these decisions were easy. This pandemic has done so much around these decisions that dim our economy in the state of Arizona. I hear the calls from people to turn it back on, as if it is a light switch. How I'd like to present it is a dimmer switch."

Ducey said the state's decision making process will be "guided by public health. It will be gradual, responsible restoration and efforts to reduce cases and increase energy in our economy in an ongoing manner."

"We do not want to lose the ground we have gained," Ducey said. "I want to get back to where we were as much as anybody in the state, but I want to do it in a safe and healthy way."

As of April 22, statewide there were 5,459 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Resuming elective surgeries

The executive order removing restrictions on conducting elective surgeries comes with some criteria for hospitals to meet.

Under the new order, hospitals, dental offices and other health facilities can resume conducting elective surgeries on May 1 if they can show they have implemented measures intended to keep health care workers and patients safe, according to the governor's website. These include:

Testing and hospital capacity

Ducey said the state is also focused on expanding testing and antibody testing. To date, there have been 56,601 COVID-19 tests administered statewide. Ducey said moving forward, there are plans to expand testing to broader population, beyond first responders and the state's most vulnerable populations.

Ducey also talked about Arizona's hospital capacity. He said restrictions were initially put in place in an effort to stem a surge in patients at the state's hospitals before the hospitals.

"We have hospital capacity in Arizona," Ducey said. "COVID-19 cases occupy a small portion of our hospital beds available."

Ducey said the latest projections show that "Arizona is prepared."

Arizona Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ released in a blog post a recent projection model from ADHS and experts from Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.

"This model was extensive, taking into account our current data, mitigation strategies, and potential summer effects on viral transmission. It produced various scenarios that gave us a baseline estimate, with high and low ranges of potential hospitalization and ICU needs of Arizonans," Christ wrote.

Data from two weeks ago estimated a need for hospitalization of 15,000 people and a need for 7,000 ICU beds. The updated version on April 22, which includes recent data, estimates a peak need for 600 hospital beds and 300 ICU beds around May 22.

As of April 21, the state reports 195 ventilators in use for COVID-19 patients, 300 ICU beds in use for COVID-19 patients and 664 positive or suspected inpatient COVID-19 patients.

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'We are making some progress': Governor says state will reopen in phases; elective surgeries to resume May 1 - Community Impact Newspaper