© 2023 KNAU Arizona Public Radio
Arizona Public Radio | Your Source for NPR News
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Friday (9/29) KNAU in the White Mountains, KNAA 90.7, will reduce power temporarily. This is to protect tower workers as they work on an adjacent cellular antenna. Reception may be poor to non-existent in some areas including service over the repeater on 105.3. Online streaming service will not be affected. With afternoon winds forecast, the crew will likely get an early start and may not require a great deal of time for their work.


KNAU's main phone line is experiencing technical difficulties. Click here to contact members of our team directly.

Arizona rural hospitals asking feds for COVID-19 staffing

KNAU News Talk - Arizona Public Radio | By Associated Press
Published December 16, 2021 at 1:09 PM MST
A hospital staff member attends to a patient in a COVID-19 intensive care unit on Jan. 6, 2021, at a hospital in Los Angeles.
AP, file
/
AFP via Getty Images
A hospital staff member attends to a patient in a COVID-19 intensive care unit on Jan. 6, 2021, at a hospital in Los Angeles.

The growing strain on Arizona hospitals caring for COVID-19 patients has prompted an urgent request for help from the federal government.

The state Department of Health Services received inquiries for additional staffing from seven hospitals earlier this month.

Documents the agency made available Thursday show the department ended up asking for 133 workers in total.

The hospitals are all in more rural areas in western and southern Arizona.

A department spokesman says the request is still under federal review.

Meanwhile, the state reported 2,911 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 20 additional deaths.

Arizona has now seen over 1.3 million cases and more than 23,000 deaths since the pandemic started.

Tags
KNAU and Arizona News COVID-19public healthhospitalsArizona
Associated Press
See stories by Associated Press