MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave County officials reported three more positive coronavirus cases Wednesday, and two Thursday, bringing the county total to 28. The latest two cases are from the Kingman area. County Communications Director Roger Galloway said a second death of an elderly person (65+) with underlying chronic health conditions has occurred in Lake Havasu City. This is the second COVID-19-related death in Mohave County. The first was also an elderly person hospitalized with underlying chronic health conditions in Lake Havasu City.
Galloway said the 25th and 26th cases trace to the Kingman service area. He said one is 20-44 years of age and recovering at home while the other is 55-64, though there was no indication of hospitalization or home recovery. The 27th patient is in the 20-44 age range, and is currently hospitalized at Kingman Regional Medical Center. This case could be considered the result of community spread. The 28th patient in the Kingman area is also in the 20-44 age range, in isolation and recovering at home. This is a travel-related case.
The county continues withholding information about age, gender and community specifics of infected parties out of respect for legally protected patient privacy. Some citizens, however, have complained in social media that they should be provided more detail because they enjoy the right of accurate information to protect themselves, particularly during a public health crisis .
Department of Public Health Director Denise Burley, during Wednesday’s special Board of Supervisors meeting, said contact tracing efforts occur in each instance of infection. “We have been tracking each of these cases during our contact investigations for each one,” she said.
Burley told supervisors that county staff participates in briefings with key players each Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon. She emphasized the importance of maintaining close communications with community partners.
“It includes of course all the local (government) jurisdictions. It’s all the hospitals, it’s community service agencies, EMS, first responders. It’s community health centers. It’s a big, big group of people,” Burley said. “In order for our department to be effective, in order for our community to be effective in addressing this situation, we need to all be working together to make that happen.”
Burley noted that experts currently believe that infected patient numbers in the greater Phoenix area will peak between April 23 and the end of the month. She said it is believed that northwest Arizona is tracking about one week behind Phoenix.
Supervisor Buster Johnson asked if Mohave County will peak at once, or if peaks might vary from community to community. He wondered if Lake Havasu might peak more quickly since it has the highest service area infected person count at 14.
“I wish I had a crystal ball to give that answer because that would help us in our preparation and our steps moving forward, our planning,’’ she said, while declining to speculate.
Supervisors Johnson, Hildy Angius and Ron Gould participated in Wednesday’s meeting by telephone, leaving plenty of room at the expansive dias for Board Clerk Ginny Anderson, supervisor Gary Watson, Board Chairman Jean Bishop and county manager Mike Hendrix to be seated an appropriate social distance from one another. The board is scheduled to convene another special meeting on Friday, at 12:30 p.m., to address any COVID-19 issue that requires attention.
- Dave Hawkins
