Emily Garcia used to live Arizona, so she has a Phoenix phone number. Her mom discovered that was part of the problem. Sophia's cell phone number is just one digit off from Arizona's COVID-19 vaccine helpline.
PHOENIX () — Sophia Garcia just might be the most popular 8-year-old around. Her phone rings constantly! But it's not friends. It's strangers wanting information about the COVID-19 vaccine in Arizona. "Every five minutes my phone keeps ringing," said Sophia.
Sophia, who lives in Sullivan, Missouri, calls it an annoying problem. Her mom, Emily Lewis, said they've been getting calls at all hours of the night for about a week and a half. "We just went through and deleted probably 30 to 40 phone calls," said Lewis.
Garcia used to live in Arizona, so she has a Phoenix phone number. Her mom discovered that was part of the problem. Sophia's cell phone number is just one digit off from Arizona's COVID-19 vaccine helpline.
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"We're thinking that people are just getting the phone number stuck when they're dialing it, and that's how they're reaching her phone number," said Lewis.
Sophia finally had it. Thursday, she changed the recording on her voicemail to say, "Hi. You've reached Sophia's iPhone. If you're looking for a COVID vaccine, their number is 602-542-1000. I'll say it again, 602-542-1000."
Sophia repeats the number and speaks slowly, so people can write it down. "Hopefully, if you try carefully you could get the right number," said Sophia. If you don't, she requests a sweet voicemail rather than complaints she can't resolve.Â
COVID-19 in Missouri and Illinois: By the numbers
NOTE: On Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) changed how it reports COVID-19 cases and deaths. The department began counting reinfections as new cases, and added epidemiologically linked cases to its counts.
On April 17, 2021, DHSS adjusted a database error that was causing individuals with both a positive PCR and antigen result to be counted as both a probable and confirmed case. This correction removed 11,454 cases that were counted twice in previous probable antigen cases, according the notation. That date's data has been removed from this display.
Beginning March 8, 2021, DHSS began posting county-level data showing "probable" COVID-19 cases detected by antigen testing. Using the historical data from the DHSS dashboard, we reconfigured this graph to include that number in the total.
Missouri updated its data dashboard on Sept. 28. 2020, to delete duplicate cases. This resulted in a decrease of total cases which caused the daily count to reflect a negative number. That date's data has been removed from this display.
NOTE: On Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) changed how it reports COVID-19 cases and deaths. The department began counting reinfections as new cases, and added epidemiologically linked cases to its counts.
On April 17, 2021, DHSS adjusted a database error that was causing individuals with both a positive PCR and antigen result to be counted as both a probable and confirmed case. This correction removed 11,454 cases that were counted twice in previous probable antigen cases, according the notation.
Beginning March 8, 2021, DHSS began posting county-level data showing "probable" COVID-19 cases detected by antigen testing. Using the historical data from the DHSS dashboard, we reconfigured this graph to include that number in the total.
Missouri updated its data dashboard on Sept. 28. 2020, to delete duplicate cases. This resulted in a decrease of total cases which caused the daily count to reflect a negative number.
NOTE: On Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) changed how it reports COVID-19 cases and deaths. The department began counting reinfections as new cases, and added epidemiologically linked cases to its counts.
NOTE: On Oct. 11, Missouri announced that a database error had resulted in an “incorrect inflation†of cases in its Oct. 10 report
Note from St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force: The data includes patients at BJC HealthCare, SSM Health and St. Luke's Hospital. As of Jan. 17, 2022, the data includes patients at the VA St. Louis Healthcare System.
Note from Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services: Note: Due to an abrupt change in data measures and the reporting platform issued by the White House on Monday, July 13, and effective Wednesday, July 15, Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) and the State of Missouri were unable to access hospitalization data during the transition. .
NOTE: On Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) began counting probable death along with confirmed deaths.
