BREAKING NEWS: Third case of COVID-19 now in Donley County

Judge John Howard, MD, announced this morning that a third case of the COVID-19 virus has been confirmed in a Donley County resident.

Howard was notified by the state health department that a resident who works outside Donley County was tested outside of the county and was positive for the disease. That person is now in self-quarantine at home.

As with the previous two cases, Howard said this also appears to be a case of “community spread,” which in terms of COVID-19 pandemic  means they could have picked up the virus anywhere. The judge said they could have picked it up in our own community or in Amarillo or from a gas pump some where else.

“I’ve said it before, ‘Consider everything you touch to be contaminated,'” Howard said.

The judge also said the local cases fortunately are not the severe cases that some areas have seen, which require hospitalization and sometimes a ventilator. These cases are doing well at home currently, he said.

Howard again urged people to comply with social distancing guidelines and to follow the governor’s orders limiting public gatherings. He said people who ignore the risk and the guidelines need to be reminded that they can still transmit the disease to others.

The second and third confirmed cases of COVID-19 were tested outside of Donley County.  At the Clarendon clinic, as of yesterday, there had been a total of 17 tests submitted, one of which was positive, five were negative, and 11 were pending.

Local officials have no way of knowing how many local residents may have been tested outside of the county as they are only informed by the state of positive test results.