New COVID cases continue decline in Yuma County
As of Sept. 21, Yuma County, Arizona’s seven-day average of new COVID cases was 40 per day, less than half as much as the average seen three weeks earlier. In Yuma County, 66% of the population age 12 and over—the age groups currently eligible to receive a vaccine-- is fully vaccinated. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is twice as contagious as the original variant that plagued the world last year, and may cause more severe illness in those who have not received the vaccine. As of Sept. 22, 30 of the 33 hospitalized COVID patients in Yuma County—91%-- were unvaccinated. Doctors note that the recent spike in COVID cases resulted in significantly fewer hospitalizations locally than during the peak in December of last year, evidence that the widespread vaccination was working. The number of total cases was also far less dramatic than in the days prior to the vaccines: Yuma County’s worst seven-day average in late August was 95 new COVID cases per day, compared to the average of 537 per day registered in mid-December 2020.
