By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – The Graham County Department of Health and Human Services recorded 178 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday to push the county’s total to 5,050 for the course of the pandemic.
Graham County has also registered 14 deaths in January attributed to COVID-19, giving the county 65 for the course of the pandemic.
According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry, its Safford state prisons have 659 confirmed cases of COVID-19 from its inmates with 382 inmates recovered. According to the Bureau of Prisons, FCI-Safford currently had three active cases from its inmates, with 614 recovered as of Friday. It also lists 11 active cases from employees and 23 recovered.
Arizona has been reported as the hotspot of the world for new COVID-19 cases, and Graham County is the third-highest county with the most cases per population. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services’ COVID-19 Data Dashboard, as of Friday, Graham County was listed as having a percentage of 13,125 cases per 100,000 residents. Even with the most recent influx of cases in correctional facilities, however, Graham County is still behind Yuma County (15,164 per 100,000), Santa Cruz County (13,920 per 100,000), and Apache County (13204 per 100,000), and is just in front of Navajo County (12,611 per 100,000) in the rate of transmission per population. Conversely, Greenlee County – where there are no correctional facilities – has the lowest rate in Arizona with 4,973 per 100,000, according to Sunday’s numbers from the ADHS, and the state average is 10,408 per 100,000.
Graham County’s demographics of cases include 694 under the age of 20, 2,502 between the ages of 20-44, 761 between the ages of 45-54, 545 between the ages of 55-64, 539 who are 65 years old or older, and nine who are unknown.
Greenlee County
Greenlee County added four COVID-19 cases on Thursday to increase its total to 522, with 401 recovered, 115 active cases, and six deaths.
As of Thursday, the Greenlee County Health Department has administered 4,567 tests, with 4,045 negative results, and 522 positive results.
Statewide
On Friday, the ADHS listed 5,028 new cases to bring its total for the pandemic to 748,260 in Arizona. The department added 203 deaths attributed to COVID-19 on Friday, to bring the total for Arizona to 13,022 dead attributed to COVID-19.
The breakdown of total cases by county includes Maricopa with 465.875, Pima – 100,272, Pinal – 42,052, Yuma – 34,871, Mohave – 18,883, Yavapai – 16,096, Coconino – 15,021, Navajo – 14,229, Cochise – 10,365, Apache – 9,482, Santa Cruz – 7,400, Gila – 5,934, Graham – 5,050, La Paz – 2,214, and Greenlee – 516 (county lists it at 522).
