State reports 15 more county residents dead from COVID-19

KINGMAN – The Arizona Department of Health Services reported on Thursday, Feb. 17 that 15 more Mohave County residents have died from complications of COVID-19. The state has now logged 1,350 coronavirus deaths in the county since the beginning of the pandemic.

AZDHS also reported 76 more Mohave County residents were infected with the virus on Wednesday, Feb. 16, and 76 on Thursday.

Figures from the Mohave County Department of Public Health’s twice-weekly report for Thursday was not received in time for publication. The state does not report locations of new cases and deaths.

COVID-19 cases continue to decline in Mohave County after a record-setting January in which more than 11,500 new cases were recorded.

While the county remains a high-transmission area – the number of new cases had doubled for three consecutive weeks before declining to 883 cases and 25 deaths logged in the week ending Feb. 10 – cases are now down dramatically.

Mohave County’s dismal vaccination rate has contributed to the surge in new cases. Breakthrough cases among vaccinated patients represented less than 10% of all cases in the county in December.

AZDHS reports that only 45.8% of eligible county residents have received a COVID-19 vaccine, which have proven effective at preventing the disease and lessening the severity of breakthrough illnesses. That places Mohave far below the 69.3% vaccination rate logged statewide. Nearly half of county residents – 95,116 of about 213,000 – are fully vaccinated.

According to the county’s website, Kingman has suffered the most with 327 coronavirus deaths.

It is followed by Bullhead City with 295, Lake Havasu City with 233, Golden Valley with 78, Fort Mohave with 95 and Mohave Valley with 33. The locations of the remaining deaths are not specified by the county on its website.

Broken down by cities and communities, the county has recorded 14,619 cases in Kingman, 12,282 in Bullhead City, 12,177 cases in Lake Havasu City, 4,207 in Fort Mohave, 2,605 in Golden Valley, 1,807 in Mohave Valley and 757 in Beaver Dam/Littlefield/Colorado City.

There have also been 326 cases in Topock, 257 in Dolan Springs, 125 in Meadview and 121 in Yucca. The locations of the remaining cases are not specified.

The age of the average COVID-19 victim in the county is 72 years, while the average patient is 44.7 years old. The case fatality rate in the county is 2.3%, meaning 23 of every 1,000 individuals who have contracted the virus have died. Approximately 23.6% of Mohave County residents are known to have been infected.

County health officials have logged 50,563 coronavirus cases since the first local case was reported on March 24, 2020, while the Arizona Department of Health Services has recorded 56,268 cases in the county. The county counts 1,154 deaths, while the state reports 1,350. County health officials say 36,226 county residents are known to have recovered from the disease. The state reports probable cases, while the county only reports confirmed cases.

Daily testing data from AZDHS for Wednesday, Feb. 16 revealed a 5% (61/1,180) positivity rate for Mohave County.

The county’s positivity rate was 38% (268/614) on Wednesday, Feb. 9; 16% (220/1,389) on Thursday, Feb. 10; 9% (71/753) on Friday, Feb. 11; 32% (213/675) on Saturday, Feb. 12; 29% (99/347) on Monday, Feb. 14; and 15% (76/514) on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Since the beginning of the pandemic 389,192 tests have been conducted on county residents and 15.6% have been positive, according to AZDHS.

Statewide on Thursday, Feb. 15 AZDHS was reporting 209 additional deaths and 2,781 new cases from 32,108 tests for a positivity rate of 9%. More than 1,959,000 Arizonans have contracted the virus and 27,398 have died.

Nationwide, Johns Hopkins University of Medicine was reporting more than 78 million confirmed cases and 930,168 deaths the morning of Thursday, Feb. 17.

Globally, Johns Hopkins was reporting more than 5.8 million deaths from more than 419 million confirmed cases on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

County COVID-19 updates are only being issued on Mondays and Thursdays, after the board of supervisors decided to reduce the frequency from daily, and then again from three per week down to twice a week.

Vaccines are readily available at area pharmacies, physician offices and the Kingman Regional Medical Center COVID Services office at the corner of Stockton Hill Road and Detroit Avenue. Treatments for COVID-19 are also now available.

Residents age 5 and up can now be vaccinated, and booster shots are recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for all persons age 12 and older if it’s been six months since they received their second Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or two months since they’ve received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

The CDC is recommending that Americans be inoculated with the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, due to the slim possibility that blood clotting could result from taking the J&J vaccine.

To curtail virus spread, public health officials recommend that the unvaccinated maintain a distance of at least 6 feet from others, wash their hands thoroughly and frequently, and wear a face covering when social distancing isn’t possible.

Free COVID-19 home test kits are now available from the federal government at COVIDTests.gov. The free kits are limited to four per household.

Free N95 masks will are also available to the public at pharmacies and community health centers.

For some patients, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, or no symptoms at all. For others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. Some individuals with the virus, including those who have been fully vaccinated, can exhibit no symptoms, but are still capable of transmitting the disease.

The Kingman medical service area includes Kingman, New-Kingman/Butler, Chloride, Valentine, Meadview, Wikieup, Yucca, White Hills, Hackberry, Peach Springs, Valle Vista and Oatman.