Is Yuma County finally flattening the curve?
Local health officials report decrease in hospitalizations and positivity rate
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY)- According to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), more than 1,000 people in Yuma County have been hospitalized for COVID-19.
However, in recent weeks the state and county have both seen consistent decreases in hospitalizations.
In July, volumes of patients being hospitalized with COVID-19 climbed daily, but local health officials believe the county is officially coming down from that peak.
COVID-19 hospitalizations at Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) have steadily declined in August.
This week alone, hospitalizations have leveled off to about 55-60 inpatients.
Compare that to this time last month when there’d be double, sometimes triple that amount.
Machele Headington, VP of Marketing & Communications at YRMC, explained where the hospital is seeing those declines.
“Both the emergency room patients, the number of patients coming into the emergency room for possible symptoms. Then that also equates to the number of people admitted into the hospital,” Headington said.
Primary care physicians (PCP) with Sunset Health Clinic say they’re noticing a similar correlation in the last 2-3 weeks.
Dr. Chin Wang, Chief Medical Officer of Sunset Health Clinic, said the clinic is experiencing a 25-30% drop in phone calls and appointments requested for patients with COVID-19 symptoms.
Dr. Wang says Sunset Health is also seeing a 25% drop in positivity rate.
This is relieving news for some Yumans, hoping the spread of the virus is slowing down.
Yuma local, Carol Brown, said, "Seeing the numbers go down is great, seeing the numbers reducing in the hospital is excellent. And I’m just praying that it continues that way.”
But as medical experts are predicting a second wave of the virus, another local, Ann Farthing, said she won’t get her hopes up or let her guard down.
“I would say [the virus is] not going anywhere soon. Maybe not even by the first of the year. I would love to see by the first of the year we have a vaccine or something for it,” Farthing said.
Both YRMC and Sunset Health agree, face masks, social distancing, and increased handwashing may have contributed to the decreasing numbers.
However, health officials are monitoring other factors as well.
Headington said, “How much of the reduction is really attributed to the number of people who were already exposed to the virus? So you have fewer people who are open to getting the virus and have antibodies."
YRMC is slowly reinstating elective surgeries, but if Yuma experiences another spike in cases, the hospital will put those on hold once again.
