Current testing for ‘severe’ cases only
March 23, 2019 (MOHAVE COUNTY) – At the time of this writing, Mohave County does not have any “confirmed” cases of COVID-19; however, Supervisor Buster Johnson would like to remind citizens that due to the shortage of testing kits and supplies COVID-19 is more than likely already here. “I don’t want to cause any widespread panic; however, I also am not going to be unrealistic either. It’s more than likely already in our community and when we start getting more testing kits and supplies and are able to test on a wide scale, I am confident we will see confirmed cases,” Johnson stated.
Johnson is telling all citizens to take the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations seriously. “The difference between COVID-19 and the flu that millions of Americans get every year is that COVID-19’s rate of spread is higher,” Johnson said. According to figures from the CDC, 2.5 people can become infected from one person with COVID-19 versus 1.5 people with the flu. The White House Coronavirus Task Force states that the U.S. now has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world with 31,000; the U.S. jumped from #6 to #3 in just 24 hours.
Supervisor Johnson, who has sat in on calls with Governor Doug Ducey’s office all last week, wants residents to understand that the shortage of tests is a major issue for Arizona. “Arizona is seeing a shortage of swabs needed for performing the tests,” Johnson stated. “The Natural Guard has brought supplies to Arizona this weekend and the state will be distributing supplies to county health departments within a few days. Hopefully by end of this week we will be able to begin testing more folks than we have now,” Johnson said.
Currently the limited number of tests are only being used on those who are showing “severe” symptoms. “I understand everyone wants to get tested, but if the test comes back negative it doesn’t necessarily mean you are in the clear. It just means you didn’t have it on the day you got tested. With the rapid rate of spread, once we start getting confirmed cases it could be too late. If we can limit the exposure early then hopefully our local hospitals can handle the virus,” Johnson continued.
CDC recommends 15 days of social distancing and for everyone to only leave their homes to take care of essential business. Mohave County residents have seen a shortage of basic supplies like toilet paper and hand sanitizers due to panic from these guidelines. Supervisor Johnson says “food and supplies to grocery stores are coming in daily there is no need to buy more than you need. If we all would do that, everyone can be well supplied.” Like Gandhi said: “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.”
A report put out by the CDC shows a multi-layered map with ArcGIS software to show the intersection of age and social vulnerability. The map lists Mohave County as one of the top four counties in the United States with more than a third of their population ages 60 and older, a very high Vulnerability Index of .75 or more, and a population of at least 100,000.
“Our County is a prime target with the elderly majority population and also our vulnerable age groups who have underlying health issues such as diabetes,” Johnson said. “I understand the CDC recommendations are a temporary inconvenience, but they are meant to save lives. The rest of the world is taking major steps because they waited too long. If we don’t start taking these recommendations seriously, we are going to have to do more drastic measures later and 15 days could end up being longer. We have already seen major cities like Las Vegas shut down. These steps are to save lives and I strongly urge residents to take this serious,” Johnson ended.
To see a list of current CDC recommendations please go here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html
I’m glad that Buster is so confident it will hit Havasu. Makes me confident he is so brilliant.