A total of 41 residents and 19 employees have been affected at the outbreaks. According to the Communicable Disease team at Greene County Public Health, “these cases began surfacing around Aug. 25 and have contributed to increased case counts in recent weeks.”
Greene County Public Health said in their announcement about the rise in new cases in the county that another contributing factor “has been students from out-of-county universities who have been isolating here in Greene County, as well as some cases at our local universities.” Since early August, Wright State University has reported 17 positive cases, 15 of which are students; Central State University has reported six students test positive; and Cedarville University has reported 10 students test positive.
“GCPH (Greene County Public Health) officials want to remind residents that the pandemic is not over and to continue to follow the state and local guidelines for protecting our most vulnerable populations against this virus,” the health department stated.
All of Ohio is required to wear a mask when working in or visiting businesses and outdoors when it is not possible to keep distance from people outside your household. Wash your hands often and avoid large gatherings, if possible, the department stated.
Contact tracing and self-quarantining of people with COVID-19 and close contacts is ongoing, which the health department said is critical to help slow transmission of COVID-19 in the community.
Long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, assisted livings and homes for people with developmental disabilities, have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Workers who might not feel sick can bring the virus unwittingly into a community, it can spread quickly in the close living space, and it can be a particularly serious disease for older residents.
Ohio Department of Health’s latest report states there have been 11,783 coronavirus cases among long-term care residents and 6,848 cases among workers and since April 15, when the long-term care data started to be recorded. Since April 15, 2,428 long-term care residents have died in Ohio.
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