MOHAVE COUNTY – “Confusing” was a word often repeated Thursday as Mohave County Supervisors spent another hour continuing their multiple meeting debate over coronavirus data, and how and when it should be reported. The dizzying discussion resulted in votes to issue the daily fact sheet and press release at the same time each evening, and that 5:00 p.m. would be the cutoff point for 24-hour reporting periods, rather than noon.
Chairman Jean Bishop questioned why the board essentially approved one motion it already passed earlier this month. An answer came from supervisor Buster Johnson.
“I believe that staff went ahead and changed the time after we had voted to keep it the same,” Johnson said. “Since Monday we had the cutoff date of 12 o’clock.”
The cutoff point for data collection will be extended to 5:00 p.m. Information processing and review activity will result in news releases being issued around 7:00 p.m.
“It’s just getting very confusing to us and me personally,” County Manager Sam Elters said on behalf of staff. “I’m having a hard time keeping up with the various expectations, various motions, various reports.”
Elters assured supervisors that staff wants to implement Board directives to deliver public information in a timely and accurate manner.
Johnson made clear his dissatisfaction throughout the meeting. He expressed upset that the Health Department would not explain how an eleven-person cluster of infections are linked and he complained that the department wasn’t answering public questions on its Facebook page.
In addition to upcoming testing scheduled in Bullhead City and Lake Havasu, Department of Public Health Director Denis Burley said area cities are engaged in discussion about possible mass testing events that might be held next month. She said imminent decisions should result in dates, times and more information about testing in Kingman, Lake Havasu and Bullhead City.
– Dave Hawkins
