City of Mesa COVID-19 Dashboard Deja Vu / Rear-View

Here we are three months into 2021 and one year into "The Pandemic Period" looking for light at the end of the end of the tunnel in the uncertain path ahead hoping to leave it all behind.

Looking back now, data provided from the City of Mesa was scarce in real-time except for some transmission cases by zip code. Not one Mesa City Council member could produce reliable numbers for cases - or "hot spots" - in their own districts that spiked at the start of 2021.

There's nothing like looking-back in the rearview mirror for a premature glimmer of light and postulating over the prevarication for what they did worke and patting-your-own-backs that Manager EditorTom Scanlon published in today's edition of The East Valley Tribune:

TOP STORY        

Light glimmers in Mesa after dark year

• By Tom Scanlon, Tribune Managing Editor
• Mar 14, 2021
• 9 hrs ago

Charts on the city of Mesa’s coronavirus website show the virus spread in the city has dropped off sharply since January, reflecting trends in the county, state and country.said Evan Allred, Mesa’s chief data officer

“The data is sourced from AZDHS beginning April 15, 2020, when we started pulling their daily data by ZIP code,” . said Evan Allred, Mesa’s chief data officer       “Unfortunately, in the early days of the pandemic, AZDHS released confirmed case data by county. It wasn’t until April when they made it available by ZIP code.”

Mesa likely had its first cases in March 2020    [City of Mesa]. 

The Maricopa County Department of Health declined the Tribune's request to provide dates of the first COVID-19 cases and deaths in Mesa.

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"What might be remembered as “The Time of the Great Pandemic” or, simply “COVID Year” began in Mesa with a series of warnings and closures.

The pandemic officially hit Mesa a year ago March 17, when Mayor John Giles declared a state of emergency, shuttering libraries, museums and other indoor gathering places. . ."

“I think Mesa – like the rest of the country – is encouraged to see there is light at the end of the tunnel,”

 

Giles and many other officials explain the drop in one word: vaccinations.

TYPICAL DOUBLE-TALK FROM HIZZONER

> Looking back on Mesa’s response to COVID-19 over the past year, Giles feels all the actions were appropriate and not too restrictive – though possibly not restrictive enough.

> “I hope we didn’t under-act,” he said. “In hindsight, could we have done more? Possibly.”