The Pima County Health Department has seen an accelerated transmission of COVID-19 throughout the county over the last two months, it said in a new public health advisory this week.
Predictive modeling indicates that the number of Pima County COVID-19 cases in the month of December will surpass the total number of cases that occurred in the nine months between March and the end of October, the advisory states.
The consequence has been deadly.
“One out of every 1,000 residents of Pima County have passed," said Dr. Theresa Cullen, the department's director. "That is consistent with the national mortality data.”
Cullen urges residents to do their part in controlling the spread by adhering to the county’s nightly curfew. It will remain in effect until the rate of transmission falls below 100 cases per 100,000 population. The current rate in Pima County is 6,655 per 100,000 population, according to data from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The advisory continues to mandate that schools and businesses report COVID-19 cases among employees or students.
“The reason for that is for us to provide guidance on mitigation and if people need additional onsite evaluation for us to come in and look at their workplace, we are more than willing to do that.”
The health department has had success in receiving reports of cases within schools over the last few months, Cullen said.