Thursday, 30 September 2021 (YJC)_ The state is on pace to reach 20,000 COVID-19 deaths this week, as the disease that seemed to be waning just months ago.
When Kristin Urquiza’s father, Mark, died of COVID-19 last summer – alone in ICU because of his infection, she said, “the most horrible way to die” – the Arizona death toll from the disease was about 2,500.
A little more than a year later, the state is on pace to reach 20,000 COVID-19 deaths this week, as the disease that seemed to be waning just months ago has come roaring back with a new variant and new battles on safety protocols.
“My life has completely changed over the past year,” Urquiza said Wednesday. “And this terrible milestone reminds me of my own loss.”
The Arizona Department of Health Services said there had been 19,959 deaths as of Wednesday, with the state averaging 40 to 50 deaths a day in recent weeks. Close to three-fourths of those deaths have been to people age 65 and older – people like Mark Urquiza, who was 65 when he died, a death Kristin still mourns.
Dr. Joshua LaBaer, executive director of Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, said that underlying health conditions among people in that age group play a large part in the death toll.
“By the time you get to your 60s and 70s, you probably have a few other medical conditions that have accumulated,” LaBaer said.
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