By L. Parsons Many questions are being asked at this uncertain time. In the interest of answering those questions, the Winslow Police Department has been hosting live updates on their Facebook page. Last week, doctors from the Winslow area took part in that update. Dr. Thomas Greenwood of the Little Colorado Physicians Office began, “We are here to answer questions about this COVID-19 crisis, yes I will call it a crisis. This is a real and dangerous disease that does kill people. Most people do not die from this, it is a disease that can be defeated.” Greenwood was joined by Dr. Gregory Jarrin. Both authorities explained the importance of social distancing and staying at home except in the case of absolute necessity, such as purchasing food and supplies. “Wear a mask if you go out. This is being spread by respiratory droplets in the air and on surfaces, that we know,” said Jarrin, “it can spread just by speaking or breathing. Even if you are not showing any symptoms, you can still be carrying this disease.” He added, “If you don’t have a mask, use a scarf or a bandana, anything covering your mouth and nose is better than nothing at all. If you have to go out, send only one person.” Greenwood addressed the issue of testing. “We do have a limited amount of testing supplies. There will be times that we won’t test those that do show mild symptoms. The reason for that is because the treatment is the same whether you are tested or not. The treatment is just supportive care, there is no antibiotic that helps. The treatment is staying at home. We may just tell you to go home and stay for two weeks. There are some things that you need to let us know about though. If you are having high fevers or are short of breath, call your doctor.” Both the Little Colorado Medical Center and Winslow Indian Health Care Center (WIHCC) have separate respiratory areas for triage and treatment of respiratory illness both related and unrelated to COVID-19. Dr. Jarrin said, “I would encourage people to call (928) 289-4646 to speak to someone at WIHCC or (928) 289-3396 to speak to someone at Little Colorado Physician’s Office. If you are short of breath, do not wait and visit the emergency department.” In a continued effort to flatten the curve, the Winslow City Council held a special meeting last week in which the Mayor’s proclamation from March 17 was amended. Mayor Tom McCauley explained, “In Governor Ducey’s executive order yesterday, he said essential businesses will stay open and then lists almost everything as an essential business including golf courses. That basically quashed our local executive order of non-essentials as the governor always overrides the cities.” In a follow up, McCauley said, “If we were to go around the Governor’s orders, we could be facing a lawsuit as a municipality. We don’t have the resources to be able to fight that, so we will just have to go with what the governor has ordered.” On March 30, McCauley was one of several Arizona mayors that signed a letter to Governor Ducey asking him to issue a stay-at-home order for the state. The letter said, “Arizona must not squander the opportunity to learn from the unfolding events in our sister states and immediately formalize a statewide stay-at-home order to ensure that we pursue every avenue to flatten the curve of this devastating pandemic.” Later that day, Ducey did issue the executive order, but some have expressed concern over its lack of enforceability, including many salon owners in the area. Stylistic Approach owner and stylist Cathy Galvan said, “We have to stop the hands-on contact with people. I think it is irresponsible of the governor to not close salons. Keeping them as an essential business is not smart.” Other stylists are concerned that the labeling of salons as essential will hinder them from collecting unemployment benefits because they have voluntarily closed their chairs. With this constantly changing response to a rampant epidemic, many businesses and residents throughout the county are uncertain of what is allowable and what is restricted, with that uncertainly likely to continue.
