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Since July 1, the Perry County Health Department has included an alert level indicator with each of its thrice-weekly updates on the COVID-19 pandemic, giving local residents some indication of the risk level associated with the novel coronavirus.
On Monday, that indicator was missing.
Health department director Sylvia Forester told the Republic-Monitor on Monday that a recent influx of new cases — 25 in three days — had her staff so busy that they hadn’t had time to properly assess the county’s alert level.
“With increasing numbers of new cases, the Perry County Health Department is reaching capacity to effectively respond with thorough investigations within a 24-hour period,” Forester said, adding that her staff had to begin canceling appointments. “We can’t make any more appointments for the rest of the week because we’re trying to work through everything.”
According to Monday’s report, since Friday, the health department received notification of 25 new cases and 36 in the previous five days. Those new cases bring the county’s total to 318 cases — including nine listed as “probable” — with 273 recovered cases and four deaths.
Of those, 228 cases have been determined to be the result of contact with another infected individual, while 90 cases were deemed to have had no clear contact.
As of Monday, there were 41 active cases in Perry County, with six individuals being treated in a hospital.
Statewide, the number of cases continues to increase at the rate of approximately 800 a day and deaths have topped 1,425.
“We are working on analyzing current community level data in order to establish an appropriate risk level for our community,” Forester said. “Until we have been able to accurately assess all of the new incoming information, there will not be an update to our risk level meter as we want to assure an accurate representation of where we are at as a community.”
In the meantime, Forester said the health department is again asking members of the community for their assistance.
“As our staff work day and night, seven days a week, we ask Perry County as a whole to help us fight this pandemic,” Forester said. “We need every citizen, business, and organization to prioritize social distancing and mask wearing. We are asking individuals to avoid situations where social distancing, or mask wearing when social distancing cannot occur, is not practiced. When you wear a mask you are protecting those around you.”
Aside from general public health, Forester said this time is critical, as schools resume holding classes and other activities.
“ It is going to take a collaborative effort by everyone to help reduce community transmission,” Forester said. “In return, we will effectively help our children get through the school year and help establish a safer environment for our elderly and high-risk populations.”
Also on Monday, the Perry County School District released its guidelines regarding parent notification in the case of a possible exposure at the school, mere hours before alerting the public to a positive test involving a staff member at Perryville Primary School.
The staff member in question had no contact with students, which didn’t begin attending on-campus classes until Wednesday.
Forester said the health department and all county schools have been in constant contact and are following the directives of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services when dealing with possible infections among school-aged children.
“The Perry County Health Department is committed to respond to COVID-19 cases in our community,” Forester said. “The state of Missouri issued an order for Missouri health departments to prioritize COVID-19 positive cases of our school aged children. Our hope is with a quick response to cases, we can effectively isolate positive cases and close contacts before further spread of the disease can occur.”
