The Arizona Public Health Association is advising the public that there is no need to worry about the plague, despite one person in Flagstaff dying from the disease.

A Flagstaff patient died from pneumonic plague, officials confirmed. It’s the first recorded case in Coconino County in nearly two decades.

An average of seven human plague cases are reported each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While Arizona's Coconino County government said the risk to the public of exposure remains low, there were 15 plague deaths nationwide during the 23 years between 2000 and 2023, the CDC says.