By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – For the second day in a row, another Graham County resident has died due to complications from COVID-19. The new death brings Graham County’s total to nine for the course of the pandemic.
As was with the two deaths reported Wednesday night, the third death this week was a Safford resident over the age of 65. No further information regarding the death was released. The additional death brings Graham County’s death rate to nearly 2 percent for those who have tested positive. It is unknown how many asymptomatic people who have not been tested there is, but it is likely there are a number of such cases, which would lower the death rate for all who have contracted the virus. Most deaths have also occurred in elderly patients and those with underlying health issues.
On Thursday, the health department also listed an additional 16 positive tests, bringing the county’s total to 465, with is just three shy of the 468 recorded for La Paz County on the Arizona Department of Health Services data dashboard. However, the dashboard also lists only 435 cases for Graham County for the time being and will likely change tomorrow morning when updated.
The new positive cases include six from Safford, six from Thatcher, three from the San Carlos Apache Reservation that is in Graham County, and one from Pima.
The ages of all of the county’s positive tests to date include 73 who are 20 years old or younger, 188 between 21-44, 62 between 45-54, 52 between 55-64, and 90 who are 65 years old or older.
The Graham County Department of Health and Human Services has administered 2,724 tests to date, with 465 positive results. The health department lists 348 active cases, with 108 recovered, and nine deaths.
Greenlee County
The Greenlee County Health Department listed one additional positive test on Thursday to bring its total to 55 for the course of the pandemic.
The health department advised it is also investigating multiple cases that will not be counted for Greenlee as they do not reside in the county but have traveled or worked there.
As of Wednesday, Greenlee County had administered 895 tests with 741 negative and 100 results pending. The county currently has 31 active cases and listed 22 recovered cases and two deaths.
San Carlos Apache Tribe
As of Thursday, the San Carlos Apache Tribe listed an increase of 13 new cases as well as an additional 21 cases from the day before. The new cases put the total for the Tribe at 461.
The San Carlos Apache Tribe Department of Health & Human Services has administered 4,085 tests as of Thursday, with 3,367 negative, 461 positives, and 257 pending results. The Tribe lists 178 active cases, 280 recovered, and three deaths.
The breakdown geographically on the reservation includes Gilson Wash – 72 positive, 33 recovered, 38 active, one death; Peridot – 175 positive, 105 recovered, 68 active, two deaths; 7-Mile – 70 positive, 58 recovered, 12 active; Bylas – 107 positive, 60 recovered, 47 active; other areas – 37 positive, 24 recovered, 13 active.
