Clark County COVIDcases rising rapidly
The Clark County Combined Health District is so behind on COVID-19 traditional contact tracing, that the district is making adjustments and will now send informational packets instead of making direct contact with positive cases, according to a statement from the district.
As of Monday, the health district had over 300 cases that still needed to be interviewed as a result of testing positive for COVID-19 — and the district is continuing to receive upwards of 80 new positive cases per day, according to the statement.
Clark County’s rapid rise in cases is mirroring what’s happening on the state level. Ohio smashed its previously daily case recordonTuesday, reporting 6,508 cases and 386hospitalizations between Monday and Tuesday afternoon. It was the first time the state has recorded more than 6,000 cases in a single day, something Gov. Mike DeWine called “alarming.”
The case count beat the state’s previous record of 5,549. which was set on Saturday by nearly 1,000, according to data from the Ohio Department ofHealth. The state’s previous record for hospitalizationswas 231 and was set on Friday.
Gov. DeWine will address OhioansWednesday at 5:30 p.m. regarding that state’s “critical stage” in the pandemic and howit will impact Ohio moving forward.
“Today’s data is alarming: Another 6,508 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours,” DeWine said.“Everyonemust take this pandemic seriously. It’s up to all of us to stop this spread.”
CCCHD Commissioner Charles Patterson said despite hiring more contact tracers and employees working nearly around the clock, the county is still struggling to catch up.
“We have hired more contact tracers, we also have regular full-time employees who are helping to contact trace on top of their normal duties, and on top of that, some individuals are working 7 days a week to try and keepupwith thenewcases,” Patterson said.
Normally, when a person tests positive for the coronavirus, they receive a call from a health department worker known as a contact tracer. These local workers
confidentiallyinformthe person’s recent close contacts that they need to quarantine because they could be infectious. The contact tracers also help connect people to support services if they need it in order to isolate, such as if they need help with accessing food while isolating.
Kyle Trout, communications coordinator for the CCCHD, said the health district has about 20 full-time contact tracers, however, due to limited space, only two more could be hired in the last month.
As a way to address the backlog of cases, on Tuesday the health district started sending all cases that have yet to be contacted a packetwhich includes a letter informing them of their positive COVID result, education on isolation, education on quarantine for any close contacts, education on what constitutes someone as a close contact and a shortened interview that will ask the person to fill out andsend back totheCCCHD.
Clark County had 3,580 cases, 91 deaths and four probable deaths of the coronavirus as of Tuesday, according totheOhioDepartment of Health.
“Now is the time to double our efforts of masking, social distancing and limiting contact with individuals who do not live in your home. Taking responsibility for your own health by leaving any places where masking/social distancing is not occurring as well as not hosting or attending parties is going to be crucial in reducing the number of new cases,” Patterson said.