The spread of the novel coronavirus in the Verde Valley reached an unprecedented high phase this past week. The week from Tuesday, Nov. 3 through Tuesday, Nov. 10 saw the biggest one-week increase in COVID- 19 cases in the Verde Valley, with 142 new cases.
This exceeds even the highest spread during the previous spike in late June and early July. Unlike in previous waves, the Verde Valley is also exceeding the Prescott area in new cases, not only per capita but in raw numbers.
Tabulation of numbers did have some problems due to an outbreak in the offices of the Yavapai County health office, leading to the county missing its standard update on Monday, Nov. 9.
The biggest spread has been in Cottonwood, which had 53 new cases in the seven-day period leading up to Nov. 6, with a total of 434 confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic as of Friday. Camp Verde and Sedona have also seen significant spread, with 33 and 20 new cases respectively in the week leading up to Friday, giving new totals of 263 for Camp Verde and 160 for Sedona. The spread has been somewhat slower in other parts of the Verde Valley outside the larger incorporated municipalities.
In Clarkdale, there were five new cases in the week leading up to Friday, for a total of 81, while in the Village of Oak Creek there were five, for a total of 46. In Cornville, there have been 11 new cases in the past week for a total of 62, while in Rimrock there have been 12 for a total of 84. For the first time, the county has begun counting cases in Jerome as their own location, with six total cases there, at least three in the past week. There has been one additional case in the areas classified as “other” since the beginning of the pandemic.
The two-week positivity rate for COVID- 19 tests has risen to 11.2%, one of the highest totals since the beginning of the pandemic.
However, while there seem to be more cases of the virus in the area than ever before, the increase in cases has not led to a similar increase in hospitalizations. There have been a total of 11 deaths from COVID-19 in the Verde Valley in the past month, bringing the total to 36 for the whole pandemic.
At Verde Valley Medical Center, there were 9 confirmed COVID-19 related hospitalizations as of Nov. 10, and 12 patients with pending test results. This is the highest total in several months, but still below where the hospital was at the peak of the June and July spike.
“The reason that hospitalizations are lower during this spike in cases is that the cases in the Verde Valley are affecting younger age groups more than our older, more vulnerable age groups,” Yavapai County Community Health Services Director Leslie Horton wrote in an email. “There are some cases among those most vulnerable and living in assisted living sites, but thankfully, our hospitalization rate has remained somewhat low at Verde Valley Medical Center. When we peaked in cases in June and July, there were many cases linked to outbreaks in assisted living facilities, which quickly caused a higher hospitalization rate.”
“The current admissions to our facility with COVID diagnosis still consists mostly of older patients,” Dr. Leon Pontikes, chief medical officer at Verde Valley Medical Center, wrote in an email. “Part of the discrepancy between rising positive tests in the general population not resulting in overwhelming numbers of admissions is likely due to the rising proportion of cases being diagnosed in younger people. They are less likely to require hospital admission.”
However, Horton warns that the county remains concerned about potential increases in the coming days and weeks as the virus continues to spread so quickly throughout the community.
“Generally, we see a higher hospitalization rate two to three weeks after a surge in cases,” Horton wrote. “Our increase in cases only started a little over two weeks ago, and we are still seeing higher rates in cases. Therefore, I expect to see more hospitalizations in the coming days and weeks, but hope that the rate stays low and does not affect the hospitals like the previous surge did in June and July.”
Pontikes said that the hospital, and medical providers everywhere, have become much more effective at fighting the virus when patients are hospitalized, though he continues to warn that the virus remains dangerous and that people should continue to do their best to avoid its spread.
“Nationwide, the treatment options for hospitalized patients have expanded and become more effective,” Pontikes wrote. “Corticosteroids, Remdisivir, anticoagulation, improving ventilation strategies have all improved outcomes in hospitalized patients. We continue with a weekly shortage of test kits that allow us to run ‘rapid’ tests in house which have a reporting turnaround time of less than 60 minutes. We then have to rely on sending out tests, which take days, up to a week, for results to return.”
“Medical professionals remain in support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations on social distancing, masking, hand hygiene and limitations on group gatherings. The compliance rate with these guidelines in the Verde Valley [as in the rest of the country] remains quite variable and inconsistent.”
