Donley County reported its first case of the COVID-19 virus Tuesday morning, March 31.
Judge John Howard, MD, said his medical office received notification of lab results late Monday night showing a positive test for the disease and pledged that he would be as transparent as possible with information to protect the community.
Howard’s clinic Monday night notified the patient of the need to remain self-isolated and reported the test to the state health department.
On Tuesday, the judge urged citizens to help stop the disease from spreading.
“Now is our window of opportunity to mitigate the spread of this disease in our own community and keep it from becoming more deadly,” Howard said. “Don’t go out unless you have essential work to do.”
As of Tuesday, the state was reporting almost 43,000 residents had been tested for the disease with 3,266 of those being positive. Forty-one Texans had died from the disease.
Locally, Howard reported that a total of 13 people from Donley County had been tested for COVID-19 with one positive, three negative, and nine results pending.
“We ask that citizens of Donley County to continue to be diligent in their efforts to reduce contact with others as much as possible,” Howard said. “Please follow the CDC recommendations for social distancing; eliminate non-essential activity outside your home even if you are well; avoid groups of people; practice good hand washing and sanitizing practices; and if you are feeling ill, please stay home and avoid others in your home as well.”
Federal law restricted the release of specific patient information, and officials did not give any information about the patient regarding the person’s gender, age, or place of residents other than inside Donley County.
“People just need to act like it is the person next door,” Howard said. “Take those precautions.”
Howard said the patient in question is believed to have contracted the virus from community spread (person to person contact contamination) and has not reported any significant travel.
On Monday the cities of Amarillo and Canyon issued orders calling for their residents to stay at home or “shelter in place” in response to COVID-19 cases in Potter and Randall counties.
Judge Howard did not issue a “shelter in place” order for Donley County, asking instead for residents to continue to follow guidelines already outlined for social distancing. He said he asked for and received voluntary compliance from beauty shops and barber shops to close their businesses after Tuesday for public health reasons.
Howard did encourage churches to continue to hold services only by remote broadcasting, online methods, or otherwise in consistent with established guidelines. He also said that while the worship service at the drive-in theatre was probably a good thing, he encouraged people to only ride in cars with their housemates and not to travel with friends.
The judge said that he hopes citizens will take the situation necessarily and follow the guidelines voluntarily, but he also said that he could issue further executive orders in the future as necessary.
“This situation is very fluid and changes from day to day,” Howard said.
For further information on the COVID-19 virus, you can visit the Center for Disease Control website at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nov/index.html. For business’ and individuals that are concerned: please look at the Interim US Guidance for Risk Assessment and Public Health Management of Persons with Potential COVID-19 Exposures.
Howard added that people should contact their health care provider if they have symptoms consistent with the Coronavirus (fever, cough, shortness of breath) to determine if additional evaluation, treatment or testing is appropriate.
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