Health officials: Wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands often

By Carol McIntire
Editor

Health Commissioner Wendy Gotschall and Director of Nursing Kelly Engelhart echoed the words of Governor Mike DeWine during the July meeting of the General Health District: Please wear a mask.
“Ohio trends continue to increase,” Gotschall stated. “We need to stay vigilant, take personal accountability for how we take care of ourselves and how we protect others we are around. We are asking people to be mindful if going to group settings such as parties, funerals, weddings, church and so forth. Wear a mask, stay social distanced and sanitize your hands often.”
She noted officials are starting to see cases come from specific events such as a funeral or church.
The number of cases in the county is beginning to climb and totaled 71 as of 2 p.m. on the day of the meeting, July 15. Fifty-eight cases were confirmed and 13 listed as probable. Fifty persons were listed as recovered. The death count remains at three. Twenty-five percent of the cases are from Brown Twp. and 23 percent from Center Twp.
Gotschall outlined the steps necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“If you are showing symptoms of cough, sore throat, fatigue, muscle aches, nausea/diarrhea, loss of taste or smell, please do not go to work. Self-isolate in your home away from family members and try not to share bathrooms or shared spaces,” she stated. “Call the health department to have testing done. We are finding people are chalking it up to allergies or a summer cold and continue to go to work, becoming more ill. By the time they contact the doctor and are tested and the test is positive and we ask them where they have been the last 48 hours, a whole host of people have been exposed.”
Engelhart noted the department is beginning to see some exposed people experiencing symptoms and infection day 10 through 14 of the 14-day monitoring period.
“You get that far into the monitoring and think, ‘Oh, I’m almost done and then you develop symptoms. We’ve had cases where they came to us for testing and are positive. That shows community spread in household settings. People are transmitting it to one another.”
“I understand summer is fun and we all want to get together. We think we are outside in a rural community and are safe. We still need to be vigilant. If we continue to go to social events, we have the possibility of spreading it to loved ones who are the most vulnerable. Please wear masks in public.”