MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave County will continue delivering its daily COVID-19 press releases in the late afternoons, despite repeated recommendations from Department of Public Health Director Denise Burley to convert to late morning instead. While the Board did not decide the afternoon versus morning question in its two previous meetings, county manager Sam Elters said staff would move to late morning delivery.
Burley’s wish and Elter’s assertion were both negated during Thursday’s Board meeting.
Burley told supervisors she appreciated their prior approved use of a new fact sheet and webpage to display various data, but she said she needed Board direction on the timing question, which is the trigger point for news release dissemination. There was a 20-second pregnant pause when Chairman Bishop asked the Board for a motion.
Supervisor Gary Watson broke the impasse.
“I look forward to each afternoon getting that information, so I’d like to make a motion that we continue to get that information in the afternoon,” Watson said. His motion passed 5-0 without discussion.
Burley said late morning release would provide time to make corrections in the afternoon data to improve accuracy and consistency in reporting. Communications Director Roger Galloway and supervisor Buster Johnson advocated an earlier release approach and a commitment to cleaning up discrepancies after the fact.
They said immediacy is important as people want current information to make important decisions without delay in the ongoing pandemic. They also said the public has grown accustomed to afternoon release, which they also said is ideal for morning newspaper editions, that would otherwise be reporting two-day old data in a late morning release posture.
County Environmental Health Manager Ron Basalmo briefed the board on state-defined benchmarks for the possible re-openings of businesses still closed by Governor Doug Ducey’s COVID-19 executive orders. They include gyms and fitness centers, water parks/tubing, bars and bars with restaurants.
Basalmo said the department has been getting lots of inquiries on this topic given confusion in the local business community. Supervisor Hildy Angius said several gym owners have told her they cannot wait much longer without forever closing their doors.
Basalmo explained complicated assessment matrixes but noted that Mohave County is still considered at substantial risk for reopening. He did say, however, that the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) provides opportunity for business owners to demonstrate their ability to open safely and possibly earn a waiver from the closure directive. Basalmo said application waiver requests likely won’t be decided in any less than ten days.
Basalmo said it is important that businesses know what restrictions and regulations apply to their operations once they get the green light, through waiver or lifting of the state-ordered closure.
“For a business, when they’re getting ready to re-open, it really is essential that they go to the ADHS website and they get the information that is specific for their category of business,” Basalmo said.
Nutrition and Health Programs Manager Tiera Morrison briefly addressed the Board regarding health department involvement with school districts as they begin their education campaigns with coronavirus challenges. She said school districts will be provided helpful “decision tree” guidance next Monday.
- Dave Hawkins
