By Wissam Melhem | Arizona Mirror
Arizona is lacking hospital space and intensive care beds as the state grapples with COVID-19, and it also is among the worst in the country for the number of health care workers available to treat those who fall ill.
Arizona ranked 48 in health care workers per capita, slightly ahead of California and Nevada, according to a new report by Self Financial.
The report comes amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, in which hospitals are not only facing shortages of coronavirus testing kits and protective personal equipment, but are also lacking the number of personnel needed to keep up with the growing number of cases.
Nationwide, the report showed that there is a shortage of health care workers in Southern and Western states in comparison to Northeastern and Midwestern states.
“As the nation grapples with containing the disease in the short run and looks ahead to the mass retirement of baby boomers in the long run, it is clear that additional health care support is needed and newly minted medical professionals should be incentivized to move to areas with significant shortages,” the report said.
