Health department reports another Safford COVID-19 death

Total cases at 4,833 with 2,870 recovered and 64 deaths for the course of the pandemic

By Jon Johnson

jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com

SAFFORD – On Monday, the Graham County Department of Health and Human Services (GCDHHS) announced the death of another Safford resident attributed to COVID-19. The new deaths put Graham County’s total for the pandemic at 64.

The resident was in the 55-64 age group. No more information regarding the deaths was immediately released. The death marks the sixth death for Graham County due to COVID-19 in the last week and the 13th death in January.

The GCDHHS also announced 17 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, with nine of them coming from the Safford zip code and four each from both the Pima and Thatcher zip codes. The Pima zip code includes Bylas.

According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Recovery, and Release, its Safford state prisons have 647 confirmed cases of COVID-19 from its inmates with 306 inmates listed as being recovered as of Monday. According to the Bureau of Prisons, FCI-Safford currently has five active cases from its inmates, with 624 recovered. It also lists 11 active cases from employees and 23 recovered.

The new positive tests pushed Graham County’s total to 4,833, with 2,870 listed as recovered, 1,899 currently active, and 64 deaths.

Arizona has been reported as the hotspot of the world for new COVID-19 cases, and Graham County is the fourth highest county with the most cases per population. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services’ COVID-19 Data Dashboard, as of Monday, Graham County was listed as having a percentage of 12,561 cases per 100,000 residents. Even with the most recent influx of cases in correctional facilities, however, Graham County is still behind Yuma County (14,968 per 100,000), Santa Cruz County (13,754 per 100,000), and Apache County (12,852 per 100,000), and is just in front of Navajo County (12,467 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 4,896 per 100,000, according to Monday’s numbers from the ADHS, and the state average is 10,125 per 100,000. 

Graham County’s demographics of cases include 682 under the age of 20, 2,367 between the ages of 20-44, 731 between the ages of 45-54, 520 between the ages of 55-64, 524 who are 65 years old or older, and nine who are unknown. The state, Graham, and Greenlee counties are all in the “substantial” status for all three metrics on both the business dashboard and schools dashboard.

Testing Centers

Graham County will have a free saliva testing blitz at the Graham County Fairgrounds on Friday, Jan. 29, from 7 a.m. – 1 p.m. Click here for more information.

Embry Women’s Health provides free, drive-through COVID-19 testing at Victory Fellowship Church at 555 Entertainment Ave., seven days a week from 8 a.m – 4 p.m. Click here for more information.

Greenlee County

Greenlee County added two new COVID-19 cases on Sunday to increase its total to 513, with 401 recovered, 106 active cases, and six deaths. 

As of Sunday, the Greenlee County Health Department has administered 4,478 tests, with 3,965 negative results, and 513 positive results.

Statewide

On Monday, the ADHS listed 5,321 new cases to bring its total for the pandemic to 727,895 in Arizona. The department also listed one new death on Monday, to bring the total for Arizona to 12,239 dead attributed to COVID-19.

The breakdown of total cases by county includes Maricopa with 452,925, Pima – 97,474, Pinal – 39,842, Yuma – 34,422, Mohave – 18,398, Yavapai – 15,838, Coconino – 14,844, Navajo – 14,066, Cochise – 10,216, Apache – 9,229, Santa Cruz – 7,312, Gila – 5,805, Graham – 4,833, La Paz – 2,183, and Greenlee – 508 (county lists it at 513).