Hopkins County and Madisonville leaders discussed test results from last week's Kroger drive-up coronavirus testing in Madisonville and the gradual reopening of the county during their April 27 update.
Kroger had a testing site at Madisonville North Hopkins High School from April 21 - 23. Denise Beach, Hopkins County Health Department Director, said her department has been getting calls and questions from many people who have not received their test results yet.
“The way this was conducted, it's taking longer for positive results to get to the health department. We knew that would be the case, because these results are being sent directly to Kroger,” Beach said.
According to Beach, Kroger will send the positive test results to the Department of Public Health instead of the local health departments. The Department of Public Health will report back to the local health department. She said that will cause a significant lag time.
Those who tested for coronavirus in Hopkins County may call 1-888-852-2567 or 1-877-852-2677 or go towww.thelittleclinic.com for their test results. If someone receives a positive COVID-19 test result, Beach said they should isolate from others and not leave their house until they have not had a fever or respiratory symptoms for 72 hours.
When the Hopkins County Health Department receives an individual’s positive test result, the department will call that person and launch a contact tracing investigation.
“We will be calling you and doing a contact investigation. We will be giving you recommendations over the phone and sending out a packet to you,” Beach said. “But in the meantime, since there is lag time from the results, we need you to go ahead and isolate yourself.”
Hopkins County has a total COVID-19 case number of 275 and a total of 21 coronavirus related deaths. Seventy-four individuals have recovered.
Madisonville Mayor Kevin Cotton said the City of Madisonville will not reopen May 1.
“You know, one of the things that we are looking at is trying to get some outdoor activities back up and running as soon as possible,” Cotton said. “But no, the entire county and city will not be reopening on May 1.”
The federal and state governments have issued a phased plan for reopening. Certain benchmarksand goals must be met in order for businesses to reopen. Hopkins County Judge-Executive JackWhitfield said it will be a while before Hopkins County can successfully hit those benchmarks.
“I've had a few questions about if we are going to open up before the rest of the state does and for most of the industries, we simply can't...anything that is regulated by the state that is licensed by the state. I could say you can go ahead and open up but they still can't because their license could be pulled,” Whitfield said. “So we will be following the governor's mandate as far as what businesses can open.”
However, according to Whitfield, the farmer’s market will reopen for the summer; the government has labeled farmer’s markets as food providers. Whitfield said he has started discussing with the local market measures that can be taken to maintain social distancing.
“As with most things, no matter how we set it up, it's still going to take assistance from the people that are out there,” Whitfield said. “So it goes back to that personal responsibility and noticing the people in front of you. Stay that six feet away at least, but it will be open.”
