Downward trend
COVId-19 cases continue to drop in county
Yuma County’s COVID-19 case counts continue to trend consistently low, with only one day this week – Saturday – reporting numbers above the 40s.
Last Saturday, 64 new cases were reported by the county, with two new deaths. The next day, Aug. 16, the numbers plummeted to 17 new cases and no new deaths.
Then on Aug. 17, the county reported 26 new cases and once again, no deaths. Aug. 18 brought 20 new cases, three deaths; Aug. 19, 17 new cases and two deaths. Case counts rose on Aug. 20 with 33 new cases confirmed and one death, and Aug. 21 with 49 new cases and two deaths.
According to Yuma County Public Health Services District Director Diana Gomez, the results from the county’s recent five-day testing blitz were included in some of these reports, and the numbers are on target.
“For the last two weeks, we’ve been getting results consistently within 24 to 48-hour periods, so they’re pretty accurate,” said Gomez. “Which is good. That’s what you want.”
Gomez said this was also apparent during the blitz,
as most participants received their results within that 24-48 hour window. One of the main contributors to this prompt turnaround is the clearing of laboratory backlogs, which has expedited the process.
“One of the biggest labs (processing tests in Arizona) was Sonora Quest Laboratories, and they had a backlog that they resolved two-and-a-half or three weeks back,” said Gomez. “Once they cleared that, they lowered their response times. For the testing blitz, we used an independent lab. Some other entities are also using different labs that are coming in online. So testing capacity has increased, and also lab capacity across the state.”
According to Gomez, the blitz allowed local health officials to garner a clearer and more current snapshot of Yuma County’s COVID-19 landscape, although the participation fell much shorter than their anticipated goal.
“We had enough supplies, staff and resources to test 10,000 people and at the end of the blitz, a little over 1,000 people took advantage of that opportunity,” she said. “They went through the process, it was quick, many people were surprised we got the results within those time frames. It would have been great to test more, we were definitely prepared for more, but we’re grateful for the people that showed up and we’re hoping to provide additional events like that, because having ongoing testing is important.”
Gomez noted that residents don’t have to wait until the next big event to seek testing; the Regional Center for Border Health and Sunset Health continue to provide drive-up testing opportunities, “which is a real benefit to our community.”
Despite only meeting 10% of their goal, Gomez said the blitz served as a “learning opportunity” to train county health officials for future events like it.
“One of the benefits for us was we realized how that set-up works,” she said. “We took notes and now when we have a vaccination (event) – we have the flu vaccine coming up, or if we have a COVID vaccine ready – that model would be a good model to deploy to make sure people can go through the process quickly in a safe and efficient manner.”
According to Gomez, it’s unclear when a COVID-19 vaccine may be available.
“There’s reports that say later this winter or later this fall, some say November and some say December, but to be honest, it’s a moving target and it depends on how the trials go,” she said. “I don’t have a definite date, so that’s why we’re preparing – we’re just practicing to be ready when it’s ready so that we don’t have to do all that planning then and will be ready to go.”
As for meeting the Arizona Department of Health Services’ benchmarks for reopening schools, Gomez said Yuma County continues to meet two of the three: a decline in new cases for two consecutive weeks, and two consecutive weeks in which hospital visits for COVID-like illnesses remain below 10%. The county’s positivity rate, however, is what’s holding things up.
“The guidance is 7% or lower for hybrid and 5% or lower for in-person, and right now our positivity is at 16%,” said Gomez. “We’re making progress, but we’re not there yet.”
The benchmarks, along with routinely updated health data, are accessible at azdhs.gov/covid19 under “Schools (Childcare and K-12).” The page includes a map of Arizona, which can be localized by county to provide further insight on where regions fall in meeting the criteria.
“Those are the kind of health resources from the things that I think are important Centers for Disease Control for people to know and Prevention (CDC) and so they can track it,” said the Arizona Department of Gomez. Health Services, as well as
Additionally, the Yuma mental health resources. County Public Health Services “A lot of times parents District has curated have questions, and I think its own resource page, just going on there and seeing located at yumacountyaz.gov/government/ that will answer a lot of them,” Gomez said. health-district/divisions/ Yuma County health officials emergency-preparedness-program have also put together under “Coronavirus some “safe back-to-school 2019 (COVID-19) kits” for local public, private Yuma County Updates,” and charter schools’ then “Schools, Universities health offices. If a school and Child Care Centers.” has not received one of
According to Gomez, this these kits and would like page is a “one-stop shop” one, Gomez encourages for resources for parents, them to contact the health caregivers and school administrators, department at (928) 3174550. with links to