COVID update: White House plans to make 400 million masks available for free

Yavapai County providing free COVID testing at Pioneer Park parking lot

The White House announced plans this week to make 400 million N95 masks available to all for free.

Masks are expected to be available at pharmacies and community health centers later this week, and the program is expected to be fully up and running by early February.

Arizona Department of Health Services will share additional information once it is available.

YCCHS will be providing free COVID testing 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Pioneer Park Front Parking Lot, 1200 Commerce Drive, Prescott. Currently PCR tests are offered, but rapid testing is coming to this location soon. YCCHS offers drive-through testing.

Free COVID testing will also be offered in Prescott Valley at the Humboldt Unified School District Office, 6411 N. Robert Road, Prescott Valley 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Currently only PCR tests are available, but YCCHS will be offering rapid testing soon. Testing is on walk-up basis.

Testing will also be available in Cottonwood at the fire station, 199 6th St., 10 a.m. to noon Tuesdays and Thursdays through Feb. 1. Rapid test drive-through testing will be set up at the entrance of the parking lot off East Aspen Street and exiting onto south 6th Street.

YCCHS asks that you wear a mask at the testing sites, and that only those who are symptomatic or have been recently exposed to Covid-19 come to get tested. Please check the YCCHS Facebook page for cancellations due to extreme weather (facebook.com/YCCHS).

Yavapai County reports 1,137 COVID-19 cases and five deaths since Friday Jan. 21, 2022, including 301 cases Tuesday. The county has tested 129,343 residents for COVID-19 in the past six months, and there have been 42,749 positive cases and 1,040 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Yavapai Regional Medical Center reports 65 COVID patients, VVMC reports 27 patients and the VA reports four patients. The county is still experiencing high transmission of COVID-19 with a 30.3% positivity rate and 959 cases per 100,000 residents for the week ending Jan. 9, 2022.

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, at 844-542-8201 (select Option No. 8), offers help in English and Spanish from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, except for major holidays.