PHOENIX, AZ—The Arizona Department of Health Services recently announced that the state will receive $12.4 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support the public health response to the coronavirus outbreak.

This is in addition to the $16.2 million already received from the CDC during this response. According to state officials, ADHS will work with local public health departments to enhance and implement statewide plans to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Arizona. Key funding priorities will include identifying cases, contact tracing and follow up activities, improving morbidity and mortality surveillance, enhancing laboratory testing, and protecting and monitoring the health of our healthcare systems, they said.

"The Arizona response to the COVID-19 outbreak continues to be our top priority, and we will be working with our local public health departments to augment the statewide system for aggressive case investigation and contact tracing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19," said Dr. Cara Christ, ADHS Director. "Our public health strategy is to reduce the spread of the disease, protect those who are most at risk for serious complications, and ensure our healthcare system has the capacity to treat those who need care."

Governor Doug Ducey issued a Declaration of Emergency on March 11, 2020 to combat the spread of COVID-19, and signed into law Senator Brophy McGee's bill, SB 1051, on March 12, 2020, which provided ADHS with access to an additional $55,500,000 in emergency funds that can be used for resources to protect public health.

ADHS activated its Health Emergency Operations Center on January 26, 2020 after the first case of travel-associated COVID-19 was confirmed in Arizona. The Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) remains open to coordinate the state's response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

With widespread community transmission of the virus and increased testing, ADHS officials say they expect to see more cases of COVID-19 in Arizona. On Monday, for the first time since ADHS first began reporting on the number of deaths and cases, health officials said there were no new deaths.