By Linda Kor Arizona is seeing COVID spread faster than in most states, and as the holidays come to a close the region has seen an uptick in the number of reported COVID cases. Daily totals show that as of last week an average of 60 new cases were reported each day off of tribal lands. Regarding overall totals, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services as of New Year’s Day, 1,901 COVID cases have been reported within the Winslow zip code area, which includes parts of the Navajo Nation. With a population of 9,427, that means 20 percent of the population have experienced COVID. In Holbrook, there have been 472 reported cases, or 9.2 percent of the 5,093 population. Joseph City, which showed 33 cases in October has since jumped to 99 cases, or 6.4 percent of the 1,557 residents. In Snowflake there have been 486 reported cases, or 8.29 percent of the 5,858 residents and Taylor is reporting 250 cases, or 5.9 percent of the 4,262 residents. It should be noted that many people who knew they were exposed to COVID but only experienced mild symptoms may have chosen to isolate without reporting or testing. Currently, the county is in Phase 1A of the vaccine distribution, which includes health care practitioners, long-term care facilities staff and residents and the vulnerable population congregate living in shelters, and behavioral health facility staff and residents. Despite the availability of a vaccine, the rollout is going much slower than anticipated as glitches within the scheduling site on the Arizona Department of Health Services website and a shortage of skilled workers to administer the vaccine led to only 57,000 of the more than 314,000 doses shipped to the state actually injected into arms last week, according to Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. Although each county currently has their own implementation plans, last week Gov. Doug Ducey issued an executive order that directs the Arizona Department of Health Services to implement a state-directed allocation model that is expected to help streamline the process.
