MOHAVE COUNTY – Department of Public Health Director Denise Burley told the Board of Supervisors Thursday that she is hopeful that Mohave County’s coronavirus curve might be flattening.
“We’re seeing a slowing in our cases as you’ve notice in the last few days. Our case counts have been lower than we’ve had in previous weeks,” Burley said. “We’re cautiously optimistic that the steps that have been taken by communities to address community spread are showing some signs of progress and positive results. Hopefully, we will continue to see that trend continue on into the near future and distant future as well.”
Burley spent considerable time during the meeting proposing her new plan for reporting COVID-19 information. She wants the county to streamline the process and move away from its three reports each day model.
Burley proposed adopting a new approach beginning Monday where the Board would receive a single report each day at about 11:00 a.m. Additional detail and data would be featured on a new web page that is under development and press releases issued each afternoon would instead go out in the morning following the report to the Board.
Communications Director Roger Galloway and supervisor Buster Johnson favor the end of day approach that has been used since the county began frequent COVID-19 reporting. Both think the public and press is better served with more timely information.
Burley said next morning delivery would improve the accuracy of the data because there would be more time to correct duplicate case counts and service territory errors.
Johnson’s motion rejecting Burley’s plan in favor of maintaining the status quo did not draw a second. The board adjourned the meeting without making another motion regarding Burley’s plan.
Contacted after the meeting, deputy county attorney Ryan Esplin confirmed that the current report and press release practice remain in place until there’s Board action, possibly as early as next week.
- Dave Hawkins
