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Perry County, which has been high on the list of cases of COVID-19 in relation to its population several times since the pandemic began, reached a new high this week.
According to information provided by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, as of Tuesday, Perry County — which has a population of 19,150 — is second on the list of the state’s worst rates of confirmed cases, with an adjusted rate of 3,055 cases per 100,000 residents, second only to McDonald County, which has an adjusted rate 4,545 cases per 100,000.
On Wednesday morning, the Perry County health department reported 676 total cases through Tuesday — including 626 lab-confirmed cases and 50 probable cases —75 of which are considered active cases.
According to health department assistant director and epidemiologist Liz House, Perry County’s daily seven-day average of new cases has continued to be more than 10 for the vast majority of days since the alert level was increased to orange, or “moderately high” at the end of August.
Health department director Sylvia Forester said the news was a little disheartening and said determining how the county reached this level was “the million-dollar question right now.”
“I can only speculate, but I think it’s two-fold,” Forester said. Positively, I would say it is due in part to the quality of contact tracing our public health nurses perform. Testing has also had a hand to play. Perry County Memorial Hospital performs the majority of the testing for Perry County citizens and they have always been very proactive when it comes to testing throughout this pandemic.”
Forester said that, for the most part, when her department is able to identify and notify individuals that they have been in close contact with a positive COVID-19 case, they vigilantly monitor for symptoms.
“If they become symptomatic, we advise they speak with a provider and seek testing,” Forester said. “So instead of brushing symptoms off as just being a cold or possibly allergies, close contacts are conscious to the fact that it may be COVID-19.”
On the other hand, she said, preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus needs to be a community effort.
“It comes down to personal responsibility and local businesses and entities taking steps to prevent spread,” Forester said. “We have to have support from the community we are trying to protect for our efforts at the Health Department to make the most meaningful impact. If citizens do not do their part, our part goes to waste.”
On Saturday, Perry County played host to its third community testing event. The testing event, hosted by DHSS and the Missouri National Guard, was free and open to all Missouri residents. Unofficial reports indicate that 220 people were tested.
“I do not have a full report from the state yet, so I do not know how many of the 220 were Perry County citizens,” Forester said. “During the last event, 63 percent of participants were Perry County citizens. While 220 is much less than before, reports from those that conducted the event stated that the turnout was higher than they have seen at other recent events.”
Forester said initial reports have indicated that 21 Perry County residents who participated in Saturday’s event tested positive, a number that could increase once all results are in.
Across the state, 57 new deaths were reported Tuesday, the most in a single day since the pandemic began. The previous high was 32 reported Aug. 29.
Daily death reports can be misleading because they are based on data provided to the state from local agencies, and some agencies may report multiple days at one time. All told, the death toll in Missouri through Tuesday was 1,864.
The state also added 1,059 confirmed cases, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 115,366.
Hospitalizations, especially in rural areas, have also increased, topping 1,000 for seven of the past 10 reported days, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a mark that had never been reached until Aug. 25.
Forester said that the health department has provided clear guidance to help prevent the spread of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic, advising residents to social distance, stay home if they are sick, and to increase personal hygiene and cleaning.
“We’ve given everyone the tools to prevent spread since the beginning of the pandemic,” Forester said. “Additionally, once the economy started to open back up, we asked citizens to wear masks during their interactions with others when social distancing couldn’t be practiced. These are simple steps to take that can make a large impact.”
Despite that advice, signs of community spread have increased.
“We are almost to the point where people in our county are going to have to assume anyone they come in to contact with may have COVID-19,” Forester said.
Forester’s department maintains a risk-alert level for the county in regard to the likelihood of exposure to COVID-19. Since the end of August, that risk level has been set at orange, or “moderately high.”
Forester said she doesn’t expect that to change for the time being.
“While we are red according to the White House COVID-19 Task Force, locally, we look to local and regional hospital capacity when moving to red,” Forester said. “At this time, we are not planning on changing our local alert level in either direction.”
Forester added that if the county’s numbers continue in this vein or possibly even increase, more people will miss work and more children will miss school because of the virus.
“There is also more risk for vulnerable members of our community to contract the virus and higher chances of seeing an increase number of hospitalizations or even deaths,” Forester said.
