Santa Cruz County Ramps Up COVID Efforts With Series of Testing Blitzes

“We want to emphasize that it is each person’s responsibility…to try to mitigate the issue of spread.”

Santa Cruz County is hosting a series of COVID-19 testing blitz in Nogales, Rio Rico, and Patagonia to increase its testing capability, according to the county health director.

The county announced the testing will be free of charge between 8 a.m. to noon on the designated days. Those getting tested just need to have an ID. 

Santa Cruz County Health Services Director Jeff Terrell tells The Copper Courier that a lot of counties in Arizona had already conducted blitzes. “Nobody down here participated in those state-sponsored blitzes that took place two months ago. We had nobody available to do that so we’ve been pushing for additional testing down here.”

This $1.55 million grant from the State of Arizona is part of a larger grant given to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help stop the spread of the coronavirus in certain states.

Terrell said, “A way of stopping the spread is to isolate during these times and to get that message across we’re going to be providing educational material so we want to emphasize that it is each person’s responsibility…to try to mitigate the issue of spread.”

The first COVID-19 testing blitz took place at the Santa Cruz County Complex on July 25 and 26. The next round will be on July 31 and August 1 in Rio Rico and at Patagonia Union High School. 

Medical staff will be performing the tests with nasal swabs to detect possible COVID-19 infections.

According to the Nogales International, the county said it expects results from the lab “after approximately 24 hours.” Those results are then reported to the patients by the County Health Services Department.

According to SCC’s notice, those who get tested will be required to isolate for 10 days or until they receive a negative test result. 

This testing blitz comes as statistics show that approximately one in every 20 people in Santa Cruz County (5%) have already tested positive for COVID-19.  

As of Tuesday, the Arizona Department of Health Services reports 2,374 confirmed coronavirus cases in Santa Cruz County. 

Statistics show Santa Cruz County continues to have the state’s highest overall positivity rate.