Jefferson Co. Health Officials Discuss Positive Turns in County COVID-19 Fight

“I think that we are close to the peak of the curve and things seem to be leveling off,” said Hossler.

File Photo

(Jefferson County, Ind.) - During Friday's briefing on COVID-19 Jefferson County, Health Officials took the opportunity to thank those residents who are staying at home to help slow the spread of COVID-19 throughout the community.

As of now, King’s Daughters’ Health has tested 195 people from Jefferson County as well as surrounding counties. Out of those tests, there have been 10 positive results in Jefferson County, there have not been any deaths reported in the county.

Tammy Monroe, Director of Jefferson County Health Department, said, “I’d like to thank the residents for their cooperation, we can all be heroes by staying at home when we can.”

Even with the 3 additional positive tests bring the number to a total of 10 positive cases of coronavirus, Dr. John Hossler stated that officials are starting to see a positive turn in the virus emergency locally.

“I think that we are close to the peak of the curve and things seem to be leveling off,” said Hossler.

Even though things are starting to level off, residents are still advised to maintain social distance, limit gathering, and movement, and continue to wash hands for 20 seconds to prevent spikes in the numbers.

Jefferson County Public Health Coordinator Blythe Couch stated that one of the positive tests from Jefferson County has already recovered from the virus before local health officials even got positive test results back from the lab.

Another positive impact that has helped with the control of the disease is the cooperation of local businesses enforcing stricter limits on the number of shoppers that they allow into the essential stores and the efforts they are taking to sanitize items like shopping carts, and shelves, Hossler noted.

“Wear a mask when you go out in public, now that we have 10 cases you should assume any public visit, at one time has been exposed to the virus,” said Monroe.

Shane Williams, director of MES and emergency preparedness for KDH said that the hospital still has about 55 pending tests. KDH has also been able to expand their testing as well, and you are always able to call the KDH hotline 812-801-8010 seven days a week to speak with providers.

During the briefing, Madison Police Chief John Wallace said that an officer with the department was tested for COVID-19 and the test did come back negative. He stated that the department has worked to remain healthy and has also been very busy seeing an increase in domestic violence calls.

The number on thing that all parties involved would like residents to know is that social distancing, and sanitizing should remain top priorities as we work through this pandemic.

If you would like to watch Friday's meeting you can click here. 

The next meeting will be on April 14, at 10:00 p.m.