There have been 300 COVID-19 deaths in Navajo County since the persecution began in April. This number includes cases across the Navajo Nation as well as areas in southern Navajo County, including those considered “Outside Tribal Areas” such as Holbrook, Heber-Overgaard, Pinetop-Lakeside, Show Low, and Pinetop-Lakeside.
The most recent deaths were 11 and were tracked during the week of December 12-19, according to data from the Navajo County Public Health Service.
The Arizona Department of Health and Navajo County Public Health reported a total of 307 deaths from 10,548 cases of COVID-19 in Navajo County on Tuesday, December 22.
The county hit the 300 mark for COVID-19 deaths on Monday. That number rose to 307 before 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning
Navajo County’s assistant manager Bryan Layton said public health nurses monitored 1,146 active COVID cases outside of the tribal land last Friday.
“To put this in perspective, the nurses monitored 478 active cases 30 days ago and only 280 active cases the previous month in October,” Layton said. “As the number of cases increases, so does the number of people who need a hospital – even if the overall percentage is low.”
Cases in “off-tribal” countries include areas such as Heber / Overgaard, Holbrook, Joseph City, White Mountain Lake, Snowflake-Taylor, Show Low, Linden, Pinetop-Lakeside, and Winslow.
The “Off-Tribal” case numbers do not include the Hopi, Navajo Nation, San Carlos Apache or Fort Apache Indian reservations.
As of Monday, 3,909 cases had been reported in countries outside the tribe in Navajo County. As the summary of the last few days shows, cases of “off-tribal” countries occurred last Friday, December 18 at 36 o’clock, but on Saturday they rose to 99.
New Cases Sunday December 20 fell to 23 and remained relatively low at 32 on Monday December 21. The number of new cases on Tuesday rose to 126, and part of the total was likely a result of numbers caught up over the weekend.
Again, these are new cases only in countries outside the tribe. For example, Monday’s 32 new cases did not include tribal cases reported in Navajo County. When these are added, the number of new cases in Navajo County was 121.
The term “active” case is used to describe a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 and is still in isolation / self-quarantine or has not been released by public health nurses or a health care provider / hospital.
Currently, the median age of those who tested positive in Navajo County is 46 years. About 394 new cases were confirmed last week. Of these 394, 18 had to be hospitalized.
Apache County reported 46 new cases Monday, bringing the total to 6,964. (27 of the 46 were “off-tribal” countries.)
Indian reservations in the White Mountains continue an uphill battle against the virus. The Navajo Nation is on the northern end of Navajo County and the White Mountain Apache Tribe is in the southern part. The San Carlos Indian Reservation in the southeast also has problems.
As of Monday, the Navajo Nation reported a total of 21,019 cases. 11,039 people have recovered from this. The three-state nation has carried out 191,564 COVID-19 tests. They remain locked on the 57-hour weekend and urge everyone to “safely celebrate the upcoming Christmas holidays with only those people who live under the same roof as you”.
“We saw an increase in new COVID-19 cases after Thanksgiving, so we want to avoid this happening again,” wrote Navajo Nation Jonathan Nez in a social media post on December 20.
The Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Whiteriver reported a total of 3,183 cases. Of these, 3,005 people have restored or completed 14 days of quarantine. You will stay in a three-week emergency shelter until Christmas Day.
The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation reported 3,359 cases on Monday. Of these, 3,187 have recovered. You have performed 16,781 tests.
This information was provided through the Navajo County regional update dated December 18.
The Little Colorado Medical Center (LCMC) reports an average of 12 COVID-19 positive cases per day in the emergency room. On average, they treat 9 inpatients per day. They continue to test an average of 41 people per day with a positivity rate of 15%.
At 9:37 a.m. on December 16, the Summit Healthcare Regional Medical Center reported a total of 1,157 positive COVID-19 tests. This count is from March. Summit reports the number of positive tests that take place every two weeks on Wednesdays. The number treated in the hospital for COVID was 35. The next update will be released on December 30th.
“Summit Healthcare has implemented its escalation plan to meet community health needs,” the update said. “The inpatient influx has increased at Summit Healthcare, as it has been in the entire state of Arizona, putting a heavy strain on staff as some of these patients are critically ill and need a lot of care.”
You can also follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SummitHealthcare. Finally, anyone can get COVID-19 “Alerts on the Go” from the Summit by sending “JOIN COVID19” to 66893.
The White Mountain Regional Medical Center (WMRMC) in Springerville is designated a Level 4 trauma center with 21 patient beds.
By Monday, 368 people had tested positive through their systems. According to Brigid Holland, Compliance Officer at WMRMC, they treated 4 to 7 COVID-19 positive patients daily.
WMRMC welcomes patients to their emergency room every day. Any patient who needs a higher level of care will be moved to a different facility if necessary.
“We don’t have an intensive care unit, so any COVID-positive patient who needs to be on a ventilator will be moved to a different facility,” said Holland. “Our average daily inpatient census has doubled over the past month.”
Little Colorado Medical Center (LCMC) participates in community Pandemic Care conference calls with all Winslow and regional health organizations, first responders, and community groups twice a week.
“It is very important that each of us continue to be vigilant and conscientious about the COVID19 security precautions, e.g. E.g .: wearing a mask; Social distancing; and hand washing, ”said Jeffrey Lee, director of public health for Navajo County. “In the coming days we will provide information about the COVID vaccine, which we expect to arrive at LCMC around Christmas week.”
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