COVID-19 cases in a free-fall in Mohave County

KINGMAN – The number of new COVID-19 cases in Mohave County is falling fast.

The Mohave County Department of Public Health, in its most-recent report issued on Thursday, Feb. 24, announced that 68 more county residents contracted the virus between noon on Tuesday, Feb. 22 and noon on Thursday. One patient – an adult in the 50-59 age range from the Bullhead City medical service area – passed away during the reporting period.

That adds up to 259 new cases and five deaths in the seven-day period ending Thursday, far less than the 479 new cases and 24 deaths logged in the week ending Thursday, Feb. 17.

The county had been experiencing a surge with thousands of cases per week in January due to the arrival of the Omicron variant.

Of the 68 new cases reported on Thursday, 23 were confirmed in the Kingman area, the most of the county’s four medical service areas. They included eight local cases in the age groups over 50 that have accounted for 95% of the deaths in the county since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago. There were three new cases ages 50-59, two each ages 60-69 and 70-79, and one age 80-89.

Another four cases involved children and teens, including three ages 0-10 and one age 11-19. There were also five cases ages 20-29, and three each ages 30-39 and 40-49.

Elsewhere in the county, 20 new cases were reported in the Bullhead City service area, 18 in the Lake Havasu City area, six in the communities in the Arizona Strip, and one in an undetermined locations in the county.

Mohave County’s low vaccination rate has contributed to the county’s high case count. Breakthrough cases among vaccinated patients represented less than 10% of all cases in the county in December.

AZDHS reports that only 46% 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 69.6% vaccination rate logged statewide. Nearly half of county residents – 95,395 of about 213,000 – are fully vaccinated.

According to the county’s website, Kingman has suffered the most with 332 coronavirus deaths.

It is followed by Bullhead City with 304, Lake Havasu City with 237, Golden Valley with 80, Fort Mohave with 99 and Mohave Valley with 36.

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 14,788 cases in Kingman, 12,367 in Bullhead City, 12,261 in Lake Havasu City, 4,237 in Fort Mohave, 2,635 in Golden Valley, 1,827 in Mohave Valley and 770 in Beaver Dam/Littlefield/Colorado City.

There have also been 333 cases in Topock, 260 in Dolan Springs, 129 in Meadview and 123 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 23.8% of Mohave County residents are known to have been infected.

County health officials have logged 51,019 coronavirus cases since the first local case was reported on March 24, 2020, while the Arizona Department of Health Services has recorded 56,831 cases in the county. The county counts 1,181 deaths, while the state reports 1,375. County health officials say 36,513 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 Mohave County on Friday, Feb. 25 revealed 56 new cases from 671 tests for a positivity rate of 8%.

The positivity rates was 3% on Wednesday, Feb. 23; and 7% (36/548) on Thursday, Feb. 24.

Since the beginning of the pandemic 394,651 tests have been conducted on county residents and 15.6% have been positive, according to AZDHS.

Statewide on Saturday, Feb. 26 AZDHS was reporting 1,638 additional deaths and 1,801 new cases from 24,828 tests for a positivity rate of 7%. More than nearly 1,977,000 Arizonans have contracted the virus and 27,946 have died.

Nationwide, Johns Hopkins University of Medicine was reporting nearly 79 million confirmed cases and 947,822 deaths on Saturday, Feb. 26.

John Hopkins was reporting more than 433 million cases and 5.9 million deaths worldwide the morning of Saturday, Feb. 26.

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.

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.