Yavapai County health officials to host town hall Aug. 2

COTTONWOOD — Yavapai County Community Health Services announced Friday that they’ll be hosting an upcoming town hall meeting to answer questions about the COVID-19 Delta variant, according to a news release.

YCCHS Director Leslie Horton is scheduled to host the event at 11 a.m. Monday, Aug. 2, via Facebook Live at facebook.com/ycchs. It will also be recorded and a link posted to the YCCHS website, yavapaiaz.gov/chs.

The Arizona Department of Health Services community transmission dashboard for the week July 18-24 indicated high transmission in Yavapai County, with 167 cases per 100,000, an increase from 155/100,000 from the week prior, but remained at a 13.6% positivity rate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID Data Tracker indicates 39.8% of Yavapai County residents over 12 years of age are fully vaccinated, 41.7% over 18, and 59.1% over 65.

“The CDC recommended that fully vaccinated people begin wearing masks indoors again in places where the virus is spreading, based on their ‘level of community transmission,’” YCCHS spokesperson Terri Farneti said in a statement Friday, July 30.

“If a county has reported 50 to 100 cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period, or has a positivity rate of 8% to 10%, it falls into the “substantial transmission” tier, while those reporting 100 cases or more per 100,000 or have a positivity rate of at least 10% are labeled as ‘high transmission,’” Farneti added.

COUNTY NUMBERS

YCCHS reported 265 COVID-19 cases and five deaths since Monday, July 26. The county has tested 1,347 residents for COVID-19 since July 23 with 441 positive cases primarily in the 25-64 age groups.

There have been 20,626 positive cases and 537 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

The Verde Valley Medical Center in Cottonwood reported seven new patients for COVID-19, while the Yavapai Regional Medical Center reported 32. The Prescott VA has three patients.

“The highly contagious Delta variant appears to be the dominant strain of the COVID-19 virus in Arizona, reflecting what's happening nationwide,” Farneti said in a news release.

A list of testing sites can be found at yavapai.us/Portals/39/COVID-19/TestingSitesinYavapaiCounty.

“The best way to avoid getting infected is to get vaccinated. The vaccines are safe, effective, and free,” Farneti said in a news release.

If you are looking to get vaccinated against COVID-19, check out:

INFORMATION

• Call YCCHS at 928-771-3321 to make an appointment.

• Yavapai Emergency Phone Bank for COVID Information: 928-442-5103, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

• County COVID-19 Data, Testing Sites, School & Business Guidelines & Resources: www.yavapai.us/chs.

• For Spectrum Healthcare, call 877-634-7333, or visit spectrumhealthcaregroup.com/vaccine.

• New ADHS website for Healthy Kids, Open Schools: https://azdhs.gov/healthyschools.

Follow Brian M. Bergner Jr. on Twitter and Facebook at @52MediaWorks. Email him at bbergner@verdenews.com, or call 928-634-2241, ext. 6033.