By L. Parsons Lita Scott, the Community Health Services Director at Winslow’s Indian Health Care Center addressed the Winslow City Council last week regarding COVID for its service area, which covers more than just Winslow. “So far, 2,687 of our patients have tested positive for COVID-19. Currently, we have an 18 percent positivity rate,” Scott stated, adding that positive cases are being detected in every age group, but that people between 25 and 34 have shown the highest rate of infection. “The lowest, for us, has been the elders. Those above 75 years of age. We also show that in our adolescent category, 15 to 17 have the most numbers. As far as hospitalizations, the average age of hospitalized patients has been 33 years of age. This has stayed consistent throughout the pandemic.” As is well known, the Navajo Nation has been greatly impacted by the virus. Scott continued, “Dilkon and Leupp continue to be hotspots on tribal lands. Winslow has always been the hotspot of our borders, more than Holbrook and Joseph City.” Despite being hit hard, the Navajo Nation has been making strides in mitigation efforts thus far, and now, they are leading the state in vaccine distribution. “We have been vaccinating a lot. We started with our elderly, at 65 years of age and older. We were able to cover that age range for a week and a half, then opened it up for those 55 and older that have comorbidities. These vaccine events were by appointment only and we were noticing that the number of people coming into the curb side vaccine activities had decreased. We began getting a lot of calls about this. So, we opened it up to 18 and older.” Due to the demand, the Nation has been hosting mass vaccine events across the reservation. On Saturday, Feb. 6, WIHCC also held an event that was successful in vaccinating 530 people. Another even was scheduled for the facility on Feb. 13. All patients of WIHCC ages 18 and over were eligible to take part in the drive-up clinic. Scott said, “We have covered a lot of our essential workers and high risk population. We are now working on a program that will send out nurses to the reservation to vaccinate those who cannot travel to our facility in Winslow. Those will be at clinics on the reservation as well as in people’s homes.” Both the Pfizer and Moderna versions of the COVID-19 vaccine will continue to be available from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at WIHCC, located at 500 N. Indiana Ave. by appointment only. Anyone over the age of 18 is eligible with an active chart on record at WIHCC. Testing has also continued at the facility. Scott said, “We continue to do screening curbside Monday through Friday. Monday is the most busy. We test about 100 people on Mondays then only 50 a day Tuesday through Friday. Please keep that in mind when you make an appointment for testing.” In his status update, Winslow City Manager John Barkley added, “The daily average number of cases across Navajo County has decreased by 50 percent since December. That is reason for optimism but we cannot get complacent. We still need to follow CDC (Center for Disease Control) guidelines. Let’s continue to be careful.” Also in his status update, Barkley said, “We are ready to start the budget process for fiscal year 2022 at the staff level this month. We are shooting for 95 percent of the current budget as a starting point. We are also looking at ways to make things easier for businesses to develop. We want to continue the renaissance that is taking place here in Winslow. One way we are going to do that is by making the permitting process a little smoother.” The council also heard the financial report from Finance Director Elias Jouen. In it, Jouen said, “Citywide revenues for the month of December were $1.8 million, bringing the year-to-date total to $9.4 million. Citywide expenditures for December were $2.1 million bringing the year-to-date total to $7.2 million.” The city’s water fund continues to be both the largest revenue stream, at $1.3 million, and the largest expenditure at $956,383. The council adjourned to executive session on two agenda items. Both were to consult the city attorney, Trish Struhan on legal matters. The first regarding the city’s procedures for handling charges of discrimination filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The next regarding litigation in the matter of Roberto Sheets vs. The City of Winslow, which is a civil suit filed by Sheets claiming discrimination which led to his termination as a City of Winslow Police Department officer. No action or discussion followed the executive session and Mayor Birdie Cano as well as Vice Mayor Samantha Crisp declined to comment on either matter. The next meeting of the Winslow City Council will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23. The meeting will be held virtually and instruction on how to listen to the meeting is listed on the city website at www.winslowaz.gov.
