Photo By Dawn Endico/Creative Commons: Graham County had five deaths attributed to COVID-19 this week, giving the county 118 for the course of the pandemic.
Five deaths for the week pushes the total for the pandemic to 118
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – The Graham County Department of Health and Human Services announced three additional deaths from COVID-19 over the past few days to bring the county’s total for the pandemic to 118.
A total of five deaths attributed to COVID-19 occurred within the past week. Additionally, the health department listed 59 new confirmed cases on Thursday as well as 102 new doses of vaccine given. The vast majority of the new cases come from the Safford zip code, where the majority of the population resides.
On Wednesday, the Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center reported a daily average of 12 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 over the past 14 days. The hospital reported that since Sept. 1, 2021, 92.2 percent of the patients hospitalized for COVID-19 have not been vaccinated.
For the course of the pandemic, Graham County has had 7,619 confirmed cases, with 6,915 recoveries, 586 currently active cases, and 118 deaths. Those numbers give Graham County a virus death rate of 1.55 percent for the county’s confirmed cases. That is slightly better than the state average of 1.81 percent.
There are seven Arizona counties with a higher COVID-19 death rate than Graham, they include Gila, Santa Cruz, Yuma, La Paz, Mohave, Navajo, and the county with the worst rate at nearly 3.5 percent, Apache.
The majority of cases in Graham County continue to be from the 20-44 age group with 3,568, followed by those under 20 with 1,352 cases, those aged 45-54 with 1,092 cases, those aged 55-64 with 800 cases, those 65 and older with 782 cases, and 25 unknown.
While perhaps a little late to adopt, Graham County has seen its vaccination rate increase as of late and the number of vaccine doses given continues to outpace the number of new cases.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, Graham County has an overall vaccination rate of 66.5 percent of the “eligible population.” However, vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are both expected to be approved for youth as young as 5 years old. Previously, Pfizer’s vaccine had been given emergency-use authorization for those as young as 5.
According to the CDC, 78.4 percent of the adult population of Graham County has had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with 69.6 percent being fully vaccinated. The same chart lists residents who are 65 and older with 99.9 percent having at least one dose and 94.5 percent being fully vaccinated.
Greenlee County
The Greenlee County Health Department last reported 10 new confirmed cases on Wednesday, bringing its active caseload to 198.
For the course of the pandemic, Greenlee County has had 1,137 confirmed cases, with 923 recoveries, 198 currently active cases, and 16 deaths. Those statistics give Greenlee County a virus death rate of 1.41 percent for its confirmed cases.
