Yavapai County COVID Report

Yavapai County remains in High Transmission of COVID-19

Dignity Health, Yavapai Regional Medical Center reported earlier this week that COVID-19 admissions are increasing at their hospitals and in nearly every case, over 99 percent, the person admitted was unvaccinated. Whatever we do, we don’t want to lose another life when a simple shot could have saved it. And we don’t want to jeopardize whatever normalcy we recently regained, like reconnecting with friends and family.  If you are still undecided about the vaccine the best possible source of information is your doctor. Read YRMC’s “Health Connect” Here. YRMC currently has 48 COVID-19 patients.

Northern Arizona Healthcare has returned to more restrictive visitation guidelines in light of a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases in the area. Chief Medical Officer Derek Feuquay said that as of Aug. 9, Verde Valley Medical Center had 63 patients total, 13 of which were COVID-19 patients. No patients were on ventilators at the time and the ICU was about half full.  VVMC currently has 24 COVID-19 patients.

Dr. Marjorie Bessel, chief clinical officer for Banner Health reported that hospitals in the Banner Health system in Arizona are seeing what Bessel characterized as an “exponential growth” in COVID-19-positive children needing hospitalization. It’s important for children to be in school in person, but if kids are not masked and together, particularly if they are not yet eligible for the vaccine, it is going to increase community spread of a highly contagious variant, Bessel said.

Three ways to keep kids safe from COVID-19:

• Everyone who is eligible should get vaccinated.
• Children in school need to wear masks.
• If any of us, children or adults feel ill, we should not go into a school environment.

The ADHS COVID-19 Community Transmission Dashboard for Yavapai County for the week ending August 14th, indicates an increase in positivity rate to 14.6% and an increase in cases per 100,000 people from 226 last week to 265/100K.

Yavapai County reports 374 COVID-19 cases (93 per day) and 5 Deaths since Monday. The county has tested 133,811 residents for COVID-19 and there have been 22,630 positive cases and 561 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or what seems to be a bad cold, please get tested for COVID-19.  Testing sites:  https://yavapaiaz.gov/Portals/39/COVID-19/TestingSitesinYavapaiCounty.pdf.  

The best way to avoid getting infected is to get vaccinated.  The vaccines are safe, effective, and free.  Check out the YCCHS Vaccine Information Page for contact info to make an appointment. https://yavapaiaz.gov/chs/Home/COVID-19/COVID-19-Vaccine-Appointments or www.vaccine.gov  

Call: 928-771-3122 for appointments.    

Phone Bank for Assistance: 928-442-5103.