Marshall County Health Department Director Billy Pitts said the county is experiencing a surge in cases “pretty much like everybody else around.” He said the cases are rising as a result of two things: the reopening economy and increased testing availability.
“Testing is so readily available that anyone can go anywhere at any time--they can get a test--and then you combine that with the fact that folks are getting out and about and around each other. We can certainly say that that’s probably part of the reason for the upward trend,” Pitts said.
Pitts said he wants people to remember the virus is still active and there is no vaccine. He said people need to be diligent to mitigate COVID-19.
“Try to stay six feet apart, avoid large gatherings, wear your mask, handwash, cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough if you don’t have a mask on, just those types of things that we need to be smart about,” he said. “If folks will do that then we can continue to reopen the economy without this thing taking over.”
He said the whole goal is to keep the virus manageable and protect the vulnerable population. As of Thursday, Marshall County had 62 cases of coronavirus, with 53 fully recovered, seven active cases and two deaths.
Director of Nursing at Calloway County Health Department Kim Paschall said there has also been an increase in cases in Calloway. She said most of these cases are part of a small cluster “whether it be at a workplace, part of an organization or in a household.” She said most of these cases are related to other cases. Paschall said she thinks the county is seeing an increase due to the economy reopening.
“I think we’ll continue to see more cases as we are allowing groups of 50 and under together. So, there’s no doubt that there’s going to be further increases,” she said.
Calloway County and Hopkins County Health Departments both reported three new cases of coronavirus Thursday. Calloway County has 82 cases total, with 69 fully recovered, 10 isolated at home, 2 hospitalized and 1 death. Hopkins County has 255 cases total, with 193 recovered and 33 deaths.
