MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave County’s second surge of COVID-19 is in check, if not in decline, according to Department of Public Health Director Denise Burley.

“We’ve had a decrease in cases over the last four weeks, so that’s been very pleasant,” said Burley, further noting good news in week-long case snapshots. “The seven-day rolling average continues to decrease. Cases per 1,000 population is 9%, down from 26.8% the previous week and 59.7% prior to that.”

Burley told Mohave County supervisors during their Tuesday board meeting that COVID’s crush at four local hospitals has also eased up. She said more ICU beds are available while staff shortage challenges are no longer so severe.

Burley also told supervisors that none of the local hospitals are on diversion status, where two were ready to send patients out of county if necessary, just last week.

“They’re really looking much better,” Dist. 2 Sup. Hildy Angius said of the hospitals.

Nonetheless, Burley said 8.6% of the county populace has contracted the coronavirus and that the local mortality rate is 2.8%. She said some citizens may be more closely adhering to CDC guidelines because the death totals had been so high.

“We’ve seen a lot of death in the last month, month and a half as a result of cases,” Burley said. “I think people may be choosing to engage in different behaviors as a result of that. They might choose not to visit with family or friends knowing of these high case counts, and do more social distancing. They may even wear masks; it just depends on the person. It’s their personal choice.”

Dave Hawkins