COVID Numbers Still Well Below Spike Of Mid-November

By MARK EVANS

mevans@stegenherald.com

Ste. Genevieve County’s COVID-19 numbers were no longer rapidly climbing as of last Thursday’s County Commission meeting.

During her report, provisional county health department administrator Jeannette Wood handed out a chart  that mapped COVID cases in the county.

It showed a spike in active cases on Nov. 13, then a drop off.

Wood reported that there were 46 active cases in the county and 46 “probable” cases.

“It looks like we could have done something right the last week or so,” Presiding Commissioner Garry Nelson said.

He said he thinks people did a good job of following guidelines over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Wood agreed that the question would be whether enough people heeded Center for Disease Control (CDC) and health department admonitions about not having big crowds for Thanksgiving.

“I don’t think we’ll truly see the results of Thanksgiving until Monday,” Wood said. “If we have a big surge, then possibly…there’s always a lag time between the time someone gets tested and we actually get the information.”

The chart also charted total (cumulative) cases, which leaped in late July and August and have continued climbing.

“You  remember we talked about the end of July, the first of August they started creeping up and we talked about the fact that kids were going back to school, people saying, ‘Summer’s almost over with, it’s time for  a vacation,’” Wood said.

That, she feels, led to the surge in numbers.

QUARANTINE POLICY THE SAME LOCALLY

Changes in quarantine policy also came up.

Wood said the health department still requires 10 days of quarantine, despite the CDC changing its requirement from 10 to eight days.

“One of the reasons why is a lot of people don’t quarantine,” Wood said.

“How can you be into this eight or nine months and then don’t have to quarantine as long?” Nelson asked. “That doesn’t make sense. A lot of stuff that comes out of the CDC doesn’t make common sense. I would rather error two days longer.”

Wood said most of the county health departments she has spoken to are doing the same thing.

Finding was to keep the county schools open for at least partial live learning is seen as a priority.

“Above all, we want to keep those kids in school, 1,000 percent,” Wood said. “I believe that’s important.”

“We couldn’t agree with you more,” Nelson said.