Yavapai County expanding COVID-19 testing to Tuesdays and Thursdays

Yavapai County Community Health Services is expanding the COVID-19 testing program to offer free testing on Thursdays as well as Tuesdays. Testing will take place from 1 to 5:30 p.m. both days at the Humboldt Unified School District Office, 6411 N Robert Road in Prescott Valley. Testing will no longer be at Glassford Middle School. This new program is intended to be long term.

YCCHS is also supporting a free testing program being put on by Cottonwood Fire Department at its station located at 199 S. 6th Street on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10a.m. to noon, now through 12 p.m. now through Feb. 1.

Testing will be done on a first come, first-served basis. Drive-thru testing will be set up at the entrance of the parking lot off East Aspen Street and exiting onto S. 6th Street. YCCHS asks that only those who are symptomatic or have recently been been exposed to COVID-19 come to be tested, and wear a mask at the testing sites.

Check the YCCHS Facebook page for cancellations due to extreme weather.

Yavapai County reports 905 COVID-19 cases and 26 deaths since Monday Jan. 3. The county has tested 119,598 residents for COVID-19 in the past six months, and there have been 37,736 positive cases and 992 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services dashboard, there were 245 new cases reported in the county Saturday and 10 deaths.

Yavapai Regional Medical Center reported 51 COVID-19 patients as of Friday, VVMC reported 15 patients and the VA reported three patients. The county is still experiencing high transmission of COVID-19 with a 18.4% positivity rate and 372 cases per 100,000 residents for the week ending Dec. 26, 2021.

5-11 YEAR OLDS VACCINE UPDATE

CDC recommends that people ages 5 years and older who have a moderately to severely weakened immune system can get an additional dose of the Pfizer vaccine at least 28 days following their second dose. This includes recipients of organ or stem cell transplants, people receiving active cancer treatment, people with advanced or untreated HIV infection, people who are taking medications that weaken the immune system, and others.

VACCINE UPDATE

CDC has expanded recommendations for booster shots. Adolescents and teens ages 12 to 17 who received a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine should get a Pfizer booster. They can get their booster at least five months after completing their primary Pfizer series.

COVID-19 BOOSTER UPDATE

CDC now recommends that anyone who is eligible for a booster and initially received the Pfizer vaccine receive an mRNA booster shot at least five months after completing their primary series. There is no change to the booster timeframe for Moderna (six months aftercompleting the primary series) or J & J (two months post vaccination).

Everyone can help preserve hospital capacity by:

• Masking up, maintaining physical distance, keeping hands washed, staying home if sick and following other prevention steps: azhealth.gov/COVID-19.

• Getting tested if you have symptoms or five to seven days after being exposed to someone who has or who you believe may have COVID-19: azhealth.gov/Testing

• If you or a loved one contracts COVID-19, looking into monoclonal antibody treatments that can reduce the severity of illness and reduce the chances of hospitalization: azhealth.gov/mAbs.

Anyone experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or what seems to be a bad cold should get tested for COVID-19 and/or flu. The ADHS COVID-19 Hotline – (844) 542-8201 (select Option No. 8) – provides help in English and Spanish from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, except for major holidays.

Statewide, there were 16,504 new cases reported Saturday, according to the AZDHS dashboard and 88 deaths, bringing the total number of cases in Arizona since the pandemic started to 1,461,633, with 24704 deaths.

The Navajo Nation on Friday reported 270 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and one death related to the virus. Tribal officials said the number of confirmed cases on the reservation now total 42,622 since the pandemic began. The death roll stands at 1,593.

The Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President held a special online town hall Friday to update residents on the pandemic as the omicron variant pushes case numbers higher in neighboring states and across the U.S. The reservation covers 27,000 square miles and extends into parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Health care workers said during the town hall that they are seeing less severe symptoms in patients who have been vaccinated.

“Our frontline warriors are pleading for all of our people to get fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and to get a booster shot if you’re eligible,” Navajo President Jonathan Nez said. “The vaccines do not guarantee that you won’t get COVID-19, but they are highly effective in preventing severe symptoms and they are saving lives every day across the country.”

Like elsewhere, Nez said the health care system on the Navajo Nation is being challenged and he urged fellow Navajos to be extra cautious.