Tioga County Public Health is continuing to work seven days/week to serve the community and to monitor positive cases, and those who are in quarantine or isolation. Over the past week, they have seen the biggest increase of cases to date, and have unfortunately experienced the first life lost to COVID-19.
On April 7, the Department of Health reported that an employee at the Family Dollar in Newark Valley had tested positive for COVID-19. Anyone that shopped at the store on April 1 or 2 was asked to quarantine for 14 days. Several people did get tested for COVID-19 as a result of this incident, and they are now able to report they had no additional positive cases related to this incident.
Over the past several weeks, the county has been monitoring positive COVID-19 cases until they release them from isolation. They have seen a trend that many of the new cases are from family members living in the same household as a positive case.
While this is no surprise, there are ways to prevent spreading COVID-19 to other household members. If you or someone in your household gets sick, the best way to prevent infecting others in the house is by isolating away from them. This means you should avoid all contact with them including, staying in a separate bedroom and using a different bathroom (or disinfect a shared bathroom after each use).
If someone in your house tests positive, it is recommended that everyone they live with should also be tested for COVID-19.
Elderwood in Waverly has both residents and staff that have tested positive for COVID-19. The County is continuing to work closely with Management at Elderwood, as well as with New York State Department of Health, as they work through this ongoing situation. Staff at the facility have been in communication with the residents’ families.
Tioga County Public Health is continuing to work closely with our County Legislatures and Emergency Management as each new challenge emerges. Our collaborative approach to this pandemic has helped determine what information to publicly release.
As COVID-19 is now being seen in multiple areas of our county and surrounding counties, they ask that everyone practices the same precautions when going out for essentials. Please be sure to wear a mask when out in public when social distancing cannot be practiced. This will be extremely important for anyone going to grocery stores and other essentials where they may come into contact with other individuals, including store employees. Wearing masks in public is a critical component to helping to stop the spread of COVID-19!
For directions on how to easily make a mask, visit www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html. For more information and daily COVID-19 updates, please visit covid19.tiogacountyny.com.
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