By L. Parsons and Linda Kor The count continues to rise for the number of reported COVID-19 cases within Navajo County. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS), as of press time Navajo County currently represents more than 14 percent of the state’s total 1,433 cases, at 210. Of those, 149 are located on the portion of the Navajo Nation within Navajo County, an area hit especially hard by the outbreak. As of Monday, April 6, Holbrook had three reported COVID-19 cases and as of April 1, the Little Colorado Medical Center in Winslow reported 15 positive cases of COVID-19 and three COVID-19 related deaths. At Summit Healthcare in Show Low, there was one reported COVID-19 case as of April 3 but it is unknown what community that case originated in. On Monday, Navajo County Assistant County Manager Bryan Layton reported that there were six COVID-19 deaths within the county, three of those on the Navajo Nation, which correlates with the deaths reported in Winslow. On April 4, Layton confirmed that employees at the Winslow Safeway store have tested positive for COVID-19. According Layton, staff from Safeway’s Crisis Response Center worked in conjunction with Navajo County Public Health nurses to identify risk of exposure, conduct contact tracing to see who those individuals may have come in contact with and gave appropriate instructions regarding how to care for themselves and others through self-quarantine. When asked how many Safeway employees that tested positive, the response from county authorities remained vague. “The Winslow Safeway is the only Safeway impacted that I am aware of. While unfortunate, due to the proactive cleaning and contact tracing by Safeway and public health, the exposure was identified to be limited to very close contacts,” replied Layton. While local officials have been more willing to provide information on cases in their communities when asked, county administrators have chosen to limit their information to the broader county. Layton said, “The direction we have right now is that we cannot release information that would lead to an individual being identified. As you know, we live in relatively small communities…it would be very difficult to provide tighter logistical information about cases and not have it used to identify individuals.” He continued, “The AZDHS says we need to assume the virus is passing in all communities. You need to take precautions regardless of where you live. Stay at home if possible.” That answer was repeated by Amanda Niver of the Navajo County Public Health Department who stated, “Releasing further information to the public will only create more panic and gossip than there is now. When there becomes a need for residents to know the location of positive cases in Navajo County, that information will be released.”
