SAFFORD — The Gila Valley experienced its worst single day of new cases of COVID-19 when Graham County Health Department reported 66 cases Tuesday.
Twenty-three of the cases are in Safford, 20 in Thatcher, 19 on the San Carlos Apache Reservation and four in Pima.
There have been 287 new cases so far this month, more than the entire months of August (242) and September (116) despite November’s total coming in just 11 days
Graham County’s total is at 1,533, with 601 cases considered active and 31 deaths.
Graham County’s positivity rate is at 12.4 percent, and has 343 cases per 100,000 population. Both data points exceed the threshold designated by the Arizona Department of Health Services to determine if school should be conducted in the classroom.
Greenlee County Health Department also announced three new cases late Monday evening.
The new cases brings Greenlee County’s total to 125 since the start of the pandemic, with 32 of the cases considered active and two deaths.
Greenlee County’s positivity rate is at 12.5 percent and has 270 cases per 100,000 population, both in excess of AZDHS school guidelines.