COVID-19, a novel strain of coronavirus, has been spreading quickly in Asia, with over 60,000 cases confirmed in China, according to that country’s National Health Commission. Over 1,300 people have died. People worldwide are understandably alarmed.
However, despite one instance of the disease being found in Arizona after an Arizona State University student in Tempe came back from a visit to Wuhan province, public health officials in Yavapai County see little reason for alarm by local residents.
“This year the flu definitely has more influence on health and local illness than coronavirus here in Arizona,” Leslie Horton, director of Yavapai County Community Health Services, wrote in an email. “Arizona Department of Health Services has informed us that there is no risk at this point in time to anyone in our county or in most of Arizona. There is also no need to worry about person-to-person spread of the virus, unless they have personally traveled to the high-risk areas of China like Wuhan. There’s one case in Maricopa County, an ASU student, and the State Health Department is thoroughly investigating anyone that person has been in contact with since returning from China.“
Northern Arizona health officials said that while there is not yet any reason to fear the coronavirus in the area, the Verde Valley’s status as a haven for tourists does make it some- what at risk for coronavirus.
“We’re global — people travel, people come in and out of town,” Robin Matteo, a Nurse Practitioner at Verde Valley Medical Center Immediate Care in Camp Verde, said. “The area that we live in — Sedona, VOC, Cottonwood, Camp Verde — a lot of people come in and travel. The new RV park up the road — I’ve been seeing patients from there. Every time someone travels, they bring something back that’s a little different [to the] virus from what we’ve seen before.”
But a spokesperson from Northern Arizona Healthcare said the diverse population coming through the Verde Valley applies even more to warnings about the flu. According to Trista MacVittie, Director of the NAH Communications Department, the hospital has seen a longer-than- normal flu season, which began in October and is expected to last as long as April. MacVittie said that the Camp Verde Immediate Care facility — which the hospital recommends as the easiest, quickest and most affordable for area residents to get same-day care in the hospital system — saw 1,366 patients in January, nearly tripling the number of patients who came in in May.
“In the older population there have been some hospitalizations,” Matteo said. “The symptoms usually start with a headache, coughs, sore throat — those are usually the big three. Usually the fever is above 101.”
Yavapai County Community Health Services said that this year, there has not been any deaths in thecounty as a result of the flu, but that people should be careful about it anyway.
“It’s been a little better than average for us,” Stephen Everett, Section Manager for Communicable Diseases at YCCHS wrote in an email. “There’s been fewer cases than our five-year average. This year is also unusual in that the number of cases has been dominated by influenza B instead of A. Flu A dominates most of the season with B then coming along in late winter-early spring. This year we’re not only seeing [influenza B] much earlier but they’ve been the majority of cases. There’s little difference between the two flu strains save that B can cause more severe illness in children than A does.”
Everett encouraged people to follow the usual public health mantra to avoid the flu: “Cover your cough, wash your hands, stay away from sick people and stay away from people when you’re sick.”
