More Coconino County Residents Are Hospitalized At Flagstaff Medical Center With COVID-19

Flagstaff Medical Center is seeing more Coconino County COVID-19 positive patients now compared to when the pandemic started. FMC Chief Quality Officer Dr. John Mougin says early on most of the patients came from outside of the area. He says “we are seeing Coconino County community members being hospitalized and actually making up the majority of the (COVID-19) patients we have in house.” Officials say they are taking in patients from other areas via the “surge line” from areas such as Yuma and the White Mountain Apache Tribe. On Monday, state health director Dr. Cara Christ gave the green light for hospitals to begin crisis care standards if need be, which means prioritizing who gets treated. Dr. Derek Feuquay, chief medical officer for FMC says “we are not close to that at either Flagstaff or Cottonwood right now.” Officials say they are still performing “non-essential, or elective, procedures” at FMC currently, but any additional surge could stop those at any time. As for social distancing and mask wearing, Northern Arizona Healthcare President and CEO Flo Spyro says “unless as a nation we begin to embrace the wearing of masks, social distancing, good handwashing and staying out of groups, we will continue to see the spread and progression of COVID-19 throughout our country.” As of Wednesday, FMC has 21 COVID-19 positive patients, with nine on ventilators and Verde Valley Medical Center in Cottonwood has 18 COVID-19 patients with two on ventilators.