In Maricopa County, COVID-19 Could Be Even More Widespread Than Numbers Show

By Katherine Davis-Young, Steve Goldstein
Published: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 - 4:05pm
Updated: Thursday, July 9, 2020 - 12:43pm
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Maricopa County
Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine at a press conference on April 8, 2020.

There could be as many as 10 times more COVID-19 cases in the county than what’s been reported, according to Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health.

Sunenshine said the county needs more testing and more lab capacity to diagnose cases faster and track people who may have been exposed.

“If only 1 case in 10 is reported to public health, what happens to the other nine cases that are never diagnosed and never reported?” Sunenshine said at a news conference Wednesday. 

Sunenshine said wearing a mask is critical for slowing the spread of the disease since so many undiagnosed cases may be in the community. She said it’s too soon to know if the county’s two-week-old mask ordinance is making an impact.

The Show spoke with Sunenshine for more about the virus spike in Maricopa County, and what she hopes can be done to curb it.

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