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During the five-day period beginning last Thursday and ending Monday, Perry County saw 18 new cases of COVID-19 and the Perry County Health Department issued two new public health notices regarding possible exposures at local businesses.
Recent increases in reported cases prompted the health department to issue a statement Friday regarding the matter.
“Perry County has been seeing an increased number of COVID-19 cases,” said director Sylvia Forester in the statement. “The Perry County Health Department is asking all residents to be mindful of weekend activities that may increase the spread of COVID-19. Please keep 6 feet away from others and wear a mask when social distancing of 6 feet cannot be maintained.”
On Aug. 6, the health department was notified of eight new lab-confirmed cases. An additional lab-confirmed case and 2 probable cases were reported on Aug. 7. From Saturday through Monday, nine more confirmed cases were added to the list, bringing the county total to 230 confirmed cases and seven probable cases, which must meet one of three requirements.
In order to be counted, a probable case must either meet clinical criteria and epidemiological evidence, positive antibodies must be detected in a clinical specimen in a case that meets clinical criteria or epidemiological evidence, or a case must meet vital records criteria — as in a death certificate listing COVID-19 as a contributing factor.
Four people have died from COVID-related causes in Perry County since the first case was reported in March.
During the same five-day period period, the health department reported 16 additional recoveries, bring that total to 204.
In the midst of tracing the new cases, the health department issued two public health notices last Friday regarding possible exposure, one for Southern Roots restaurant and the other for the AT&T store in Perryville.
The exposure window at Southern Roots was identified as between 3-9 p.m. on Aug. 1 and between 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Aug. 2. At the AT&T store, the window was between 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
The health department asked individuals who were in those businesses during the exposure windows to monitor themselves for symptoms for 14 days from the possible exposure.
Southern Roots reported in a Facebook post Friday that the possible exposure was related to one if its employees and, in subsequent posts, related the restaurant’s plans to disinfect, clean and use social distancing measures in the dining room.
On Wednesday, Forester discussed the department’s methodolgy when releasing public health notices.
“We use the confines of the latest CDC guidelines that determine a close contact, whether the exposure occurred in a public setting, and the ability to effectively contact trace when determining issues of public exposure notices,” Forester said. “If an individual tests positive and during our investigation they are unable to identify whom in the general public they had prolonged interactions with — less than 6 feet apart, while they were infectious — then we issue statements in hopes that we can reach those unidentifiable individuals.”
Forester called the notices a “reactive strategy,” adding that as long as the business is following health department guidelines for mitigation, the public shouldn’t be concerned with future visits to those establishments.
