The City of Nogales continues to take decisive action to monitor the spread of COVID-19 and its potential impacts to residents. City Manager Edward Johnson established a Situation Room for the City’s Emergency Response Team staffed with senior level administrators. This team has extensive experience in public health and safety crisis management, and is working with local, county, and state partners to lead and offer guidance to residents of the City of Nogales during this time.
Out of an abundance of caution, 1 Public Works employee was advised to stay home after returning earlier this week from a high-risk area in Europe. At this time, this employee has not reported flu-like symptoms. The City is unaware of any City employees being tested for the virus. The City Manager’s office is encouraging employees to make testing decisions in consultation with their health care provider.
The State of Arizona has provided a hotline (844) 542-8201 for the general public to answer questions on testing, isolation, and quarantine. The Arizona Department of Health Services continues to assess the level of community spread at MINIMAL, and community risk remains LOW with some areas of heightened risk. To date, there are no reported cases in Santa Cruz County. Statewide there have only been 44 reported cases and 0 reported deaths. Nationwide, the CDC reports 10,442 COVID-19 cases, 37,824 COVID-19 tests, 629 COVID-19 hospitalizations, and 150 COVID-19 deaths from January 21 to March 19, 2020. By contrast, the CDC reports 36 million flu illnesses, 43,868 flu tests, 370,000 flu hospitalizations, and 22,000 flu deaths from September 29, 2019 to March 19, 2020. The CDC reports that the highest percentage of severe outcomes (hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths) are among persons aged > 85 years. In contrast, no ICU admissions or deaths have been reported among persons aged < 18 years.
The City of Nogales encourages local businesses to publish hours of operations and ways for residents to access their goods and services, while practicing social distancing. Many local businesses remain open with normal or streamlined hours of operation.
The City of Nogales encourages residents to care for each other, especially travel-restricted neighbors. Across the country there is no food shortage, and residents are encouraged to avoid practices such as hoarding that can be disruptive to community resilience. The City continues to encourage residents to rely on reliable sources such as their local, State and Federal government officials and their health care provider.