Phoenix Patch COVID-19 Update

PHOENIX —Every week Phoenix Patch shares a weekly COVID-19 update for residents in an effort to make it easy to follow the news shaping Arizona's response to the pandemic. Here are the headlines from May 24 - 30.

Last week, COVID-19 cases went underreported by about 15% statewide.

Slow reporting of new cases has revealed that there was no dip in the number of cases of coronavirus last week, as previously reported. Instead, data reveals that the number of cases has steadily increased week-to-week since March, and that we may not have experienced Arizona's peak yet. Read the full story at tucson.com.

Teenagers in Phoenix raised over $11,000 for supplies to donate to the Navajo Nation.

“We were in quarantine, and we didn’t have a lot to do," said one of the teens involved to azcentral.com. Read the full story at azcentral.com.

Arizona schools will open in 2020 to a 'new normal.'

Gov. Doug Ducey and Dr. Cara Christ, Director of Arizona Department of Health Services answered questions at COVID-19 news conference. Read the full story at patch.com.

Phoenix man on CNN for challenging case of COVID-19.

After doctors tried treating the man with a ventilator, they were left with nothing to try except for a complicated technique. Health providers turned to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO, a procedure that's not widely available in the United States. Read the full story at cnn.com.

Hot temperatures in the southwest creates risk for spreading COVID-19.

With government-run spaces like libraries and community centers still closed, there are few places seek relief from the heat. This means that more people will be gathering in smaller spaces. Read the full story from usnews.com.

Air Canada will resume flights to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in August.

The airliner will start with opening flights between Phoenix and Vancouver in August, then flights between Calgary and Toronto in September. Read the full story at abc15.com.

FEMA releases predictive Arizona-specific model for COVID-19 spread.

“This model previously predicted our peak resource utilization to occur around June 11, assuming our mitigation strategies were lifted at the end of the current Stay Home, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected order on April 30. That order was extended through May 15th and was just recently lifted. The most recent model, dated May 7 predicts, even with the mitigation strategies lifted, that our current resources, including inpatient beds, ICU beds, and ventilators, are sufficient to meet a healthcare surge due to COVID-19," said Dr. Cara Christ. Read the full story at abc15.c0m.

Scottsdale nightlife made national news when Floyd Mayweather spotted at a crowded nightclub.

Nightlife in Scottsdale appears to have resumed to business as usual, despite the looming pandemic. Celebrity fighter Floyd Mayweather was spotted at a nightclub partaking in normal club activities, not abiding by any safety measures like social distancing or mask wearing. Read the full story at tmz.com.

Three health care related businesses in Arizona are being charged with COVID-19 related fraud.

"These cases really hit at the integrity of the healthcare system itself," said Michael Bailey, the US Attorney for the District of Arizona to ABC 15. Read the full story at abc15.com.

State health officials can keep the names of long-term care facilities with COVID-19 confidential.

Judge Christopher Coury said there was a conflict of law between public records, private health, and business information. Read the full story at abc15.com

Arizonans aren't getting the financial relief they need to pay rent.

According to NPR, almost 11,000 Arizonans have applied for help paying rent because of the COVID-19 crisis. But fewer than one thousand have received the money they applied for. Read the full story at npr.org.

However, Arizona's real estate industry is booming, despite COVID-19 concerns.

Phoenix was ranked as the top real estate market in the country for home value increases. Additionally, KTAR news reports that rising rents are making it more difficult for renters. According to azcentral.com, the success of the real estate industry in Phoenix should lessen the blow of COVID-19 on Phoenix's economy.

An upwards of 20% of Arizona restaurants could close in the wake of COVID-19.

This estimate is from the Arizona Restaurant Association. This statement means that of the 9,500 "true restaurants" in Arizona, 1,900 could close. Read the full story from abc15.com.

'A moment of reckoning': coronavirus could break U.S. child care.

Now, more than half of the country's day cares are closed. Some will never reopen. Others barely hanging on could soon shutter. All are consequences of the new coronavirus pandemic that is exposing fundamental problems in a system tasked with caring for more than 12 million children. Read the full story at patch.com.

This article originally appeared on the Phoenix Patch