MOHAVE COUNTY – The coronavirus case surge in recent weeks is taxing resources and pushing bed capacity at the four primary hospitals operating in Mohave County. Department of Public Health Director Denise Burley told Mohave County supervisors Monday that a rough average of new cases has been about 1,000 for each of the last three weeks.
Burley said one hospital is on cautionary status that may require shipping some patients to facilities outside the county. She said two other hospitals are short of health care professionals and support staff.
“Emergency Departments saw an average of 70-plus COVID patients per day and an average of 21 COVID patients are admitted per day,” Burley said.
County Manager Sam Elters said spread of the virus within the county workforce mirrors what’s going on the greater county community.
“From the very beginning of this pandemic journey we have 51 positive cases within Mohave County employment,” Elters said. “29 of those 51 cases have occurred in the last two pay periods.”
The Finance, Human Resources and Procurement Departments are hardest hit. Elters said many in those departments are working from home while skeleton crews are manning offices to keep operations and services flowing as best they can.
Monday’s meeting included a full hour of input from those calling for the county to adopt Resolution 1776, which they say would declare Mohave to be a Constitutional county. Many said county and city governments have violated their Constitutional rights by abiding by edicts and orders from Arizona Governor Doug Ducey during the pandemic.
As they have in previous meetings, members of the Havasu Patriots group and their supporters, reiterated their view that government should have no role in imposing health care orders that should be a matter of personal choice. They contend that elected officials at the county and municipal level have violated their Constitutional rights by controversial restrictions applied to bars, restaurants, movie theaters and the like.
Dist. 5 Sup. Ron Gould agreed.
“The Governor issued an edict that said I, as a landlord, could evict my rental properties for not paying rent. That’s a clear violation of my pursuit of happiness and my free ownership of property,” Gould said. “So, my tenants don’t have to pay their rent and there’s really nothing I can do about it. My rights are violated.”
Deputy County Attorney Ryan Esplin delivered a strong recommendation for the Board not to adopt the Resolution that he said puts the county in position of essentially admitting that it violated citizen’s rights during the pandemic. He said adopting the resolution is akin to admitting to have been in the wrong, which he said is not the case.
Esplin noted that Governor Ducey’s executive orders have survived three legal challenges at the federal level and others in the lower courts. Esplin said Governors across the nation have prevailed when challenged in case after case.
Dist. 2 Sup. Hildy Angius sharply disagreed with Esplin.
“I do think we’ve overstepped our boundaries,” Angius said. She said she supports adoption of the resolution but thinks further study is warranted through the holidays and that the Board can consider it during its Jan. 4 meeting.
Angius’ motion to postpone discussion and possible action on the resolution was approved in a 3-2 vote. Angius drew support from Gould and exiting Dist. 1 Sup. Gary Watson. Dist. 3 Sup. Buster Johnson and Dist. 4 Sup. and Board Chair Jean Bishop dissented.
Dave Hawkins
Hildy is off the deep end, as usual. Gould is his usual arrogant self. Its an interesting day when Buster makes a lot of sense. These people are NOT patriots and wouldnt know the Constitution if it fell on them. Make sure they dont get any vaccine.
Francis Perkins How right you are Back of the line for vaccine