The Verde Valley continues to be in good shape fighting the novel coronavirus, with just 15 new cases in the week between Fridays, Oct. 2 through Oct. 9, with a total of 761 cases in the area since the beginning of the pandemic.
However, health providers continue to warn that the virus is very much still a threat and cases could spike again in the near future. Precautions such as strict hygiene, social distancing, avoiding large indoor gatherings and mask usage continue to be recommended.
“Those are low numbers, but if you go and read the national news, we’re starting to get to the point where there are many, many states that are now hot,” Verde Valley Medical Center Chief Administrative Officer Ron Haase said. “This virus becomes more active in the fall and winter.”
One of the reasons for that concern is that with the weather changing, flu season is also starting up again, and will now be paired with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our clinics have been offering the vaccine to patients now for a while, and they will continue to encourage people who are especially 65 and older to get flu shot as a precautionary method of avoiding the flu,” Haase said. “Certainly one of our concerns is that you combine the two — and initially, the flu looks an awful lot like COVID. The concern would be, is this flu or is this COVID? COVID is much more contagious than normal flu viruses we see in the winter.”
Stephen Everett, section manager for communicable diseases at Yavapai County Community Health Services, expresses more optimism about flu season.
“I foresee a very mild flu season since the methods to prevent flu are the same as for COVID,” Everett wrote in an email. “Mighty convenient, that. The southern hemisphere, where the flu season is now finishing up, barely had a season at all compared to previous years. Still, we recommend you get your flu shot because you can actually be sick with COVID and flu simultaneously, and who wants that?”
Everett expects that even though initial symptoms are similar, common COVID testing will allow health authorities to keep track of the spread of coronavirus even amid the flu.
Health authorities continue to warn that unlike the flu, COVID-19 still does not have a vaccine, and no one knows when one will come. Haase said that VVMC has not yet been contacted by anyone in the government or the pharmaceutical industry about vaccine distribution, but notes that there will be a real lag between a vaccine being approved and it being readily available, especially with initial rounds of the vaccine likely going to at- risk groups such health care providers and the elderly.
“I happen to be a little more pessimistic about when we’ll see a vaccine for coronavirus,” Haase said. “I know everyone thinks, or hopes as I do, that we’ll see something before the end of the year, but if we do then there’s going to be a whole issue of logistics and distribution.”
“It’s very important to note here that, like 2010 [for the swine flu vaccine], the vaccine will be in short supply for the first several weeks; 400 million doses won’t magically appear the day the vaccine is approved,” Everett wrote, though he noted that the county has experience with distributing vaccines once they have access to them. “Expect it to be rationed out highest risk to lowest; seniors and those with chronic health issues first, and then down the generations, leaving ‘zoomers’ and ‘alphas’ last to get it.”
“Flu shots are already available and the CDC is recommending to get them ASAP,” Everett wrote. “They can get them through the usual suspects: Our community health center, their local provider, urgent care and usually the local pharmacy.
