Mohave County sees 4 new COVID-19 deaths, 259 new cases

KINGMAN – The Mohave County Department of Public Health reported 259 new COVID-19 cases and four additional deaths in the county in the two-week period ending Wednesday, May 25.

It marked the most new cases in a reporting period since the county changed to two-week reporting intervals in late March. There were 94 new cases and four deaths in the two-week period ending Wednesday, April 27. When the virus peaked in January the county was averaging thousands of cases per week.

While cases are rising across the United States despite a lack of testing, Mohave County is still categorized as a low-transmission area for the past nine weeks by the Centers for Disease Control, county health officials reported.

Based on county reports, there are approximately 18 new confirmed cases per day for a 14-day average.

The county wrote that the Omicron variants are dominant in the county, and that a majority of the deaths reported in the past two weeks have been residents in the 60 to 69 age group. The average age of reported cases in May is 50.6 years, down from 54.3 years last month.

The locations of the new deaths and new cases are no longer reported by county health officials.

The death toll in the county since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago is now 1,459, while the number of cases has increased to 57,960 out of about 213,000 residents, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The Kingman medical service area leads the county with 15,038 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, followed by Bullhead City with 12,679 cases and Lake Havasu City with 12,518. Golden Valley has logged 2,684 cases.

According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, 46.7% of eligible county residents have received COVID-19 vaccines, which have proven affective at preventing the disease and lessening the severity of breakthrough illnesses.

That places Mohave far below the 75.7% vaccination rate achieved statewide. According to AZDHS, less than half of county residents – 83,165 of about 213,000 – are fully vaccinated.

Since the beginning of the pandemic 422,902 tests have been conducted on county residents and 14.8% have been positive, according to AZDHS.

Statewide AZDHS was reporting 40 additional deaths and 10,359 new cases for the week ending Wednesday, May 25. More than 2,049,000 Arizonans have contracted the virus and 30,299 have died.

Nationwide, Johns Hopkins University of Medicine was reporting more than 83 million confirmed cases and more than 1 million deaths on Wednesday, May 25.

John Hopkins was reporting more than 527 million cases and nearly 6.3 million deaths worldwide on Wednesday, May 25.

Vaccines are readily available at area pharmacies and physician offices.

Residents age 5 and up can now be vaccinated, and a second booster shot of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine is now recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for all persons age 50 and older if it’s been at least four months since they received their first booster shot.

To curtail virus spread, health officials recommend the unvaccinated maintain a distance of at least six 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.

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