Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, Kate Gallego said Friday on MSNBC that Maricopa county is going to be supplied with refrigerated trucks as coronavirus cases surge in the city.
The Abrazo Community Health Network, which operates five hospitals in the Phoenix region, has reportedly run out of morgue beds and will require refrigerated trucks. “I wish we had given mayors the authority to act earlier,” said Gallego on MSNBC. (RELATED: Federal Reserve Official Says Economy Would Improve ‘If We All Wore A Mask’)
“It is very scary out here,” Gallego said to MSNBC, “I have constituents who waited eight hours, 13 hours to get a test and you know many people won’t wait that long unless they desperately need one. It is quite hot. We are predicting temperatures could hit 117 degrees this weekend.”
Maricopa county is in the top three in infected counties across the United States with over 73,000 infections, per John Hopkins University. The county also has 1,000 deaths from the virus.
“I joined with mayors from across Arizona in sending him (governor Doug Ducey) a letter that encouraged much stronger measures, a statewide mask program makes sense to us,” said Gallego on MSNBC. Gallego added that residents of Phoenix typically leave during the hotter months to travel to cooler areas of the state.
Masks are required in the city of Phoenix and Maricopa county as of July 6, per the City of Phoenix.