Dubois County Health Department confirms second case of COVID-19
Indiana Department of Health announced today the second positive case of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for a Dubois County resident.
The patient was tested through a lab in Evansville and is in isolation. No additional information about the patient will be released due to privacy laws.
“With this second case, the Dubois County Health Department message remains the same to our residents, protect yourself and our community by following Governor Holcomb’s directive: stay home, practice social distancing, and good hygiene. Continue to be responsible and do your part. Dubois County Health Department is continuing to work with our community partners to respond to this public health emergency,” said Dr. Ted Waflart, Dubois County Health Officer.
Dubois County Health Department is working closely with the local and state officials to ensure that contacts of the patient are identified and monitored and that all infection control protocols are being followed.
Human coronaviruses most commonly spread from an infected person to others through:
- Respiratory droplets released into the air by coughing and sneezing;
- Close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands;
- Touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands; and
- Rarely, fecal contamination.
The best way to protect yourself from any respiratory illness, including the flu, is to:
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Avoid close contact (within 6 feet) with people who are sick.
- Stay home when you are sick.
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
The CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. You should only wear a mask if a healthcare professional recommends it. A facemask should be used by people who have COVID-19 and are showing symptoms to protect others from the risk of infection.
Would be nice if Health Dept would report where these people worked and frequented so the rest of us could evaluate our chances/likelyhood of having came in contact with them.
Other cities do. Just got a notification that a police detective in Evansville tested positive. Why can’t you tell us where they work and what town they live in. Not knowing this information is not helping to control this virus.
definitely, too easy to do…
we need better laws!
Exactly… How many been tested in Dubois?
LAWS ONLY PROTECT THE GUILTY OR SO IT SEEMS?
Probably had to go to Evansville because Jasper-Dubois Co. wouldn’t test – acting like the BIG cities that have all the red tape for testing because of the high volume of cases and limited test kits available. Not so, here. That said, while the privacy laws prevent specific ID of the patient, that doesn’t include things like the community of residence or of employment, and/or the suspected method and circumstances, etc. of how/where the person may have contracted the virus. DC needs to come down from their high-brow, hard-headed perch and start serving its citizens with better transparency if they want to help curb the anxiety, mis-information and rumors that they’re co concerned with (previous story).
It would be helpful to know where this patient place of employment is and/or lives in our local area. So we know if we have been exposed to or been around this person.
Great comment, & is using forward thinking. Authorities would be wise toheed this advice.
• Know how it spreads
• Practice “physical distancing “ 6 feet or more
• Clean your hands often
• If you are sick – stay home and wear a face mask if around others in the household
• Cover your cough
Stay Safe, aware, calm and vigilant. Together we will all get thru this.
There are going to be a lot more positive cases soon if some of these factories in our county – for example, Masterbrand – don’t temporarily close and protect their employees. These places are asking for gigantic lawsuits at the end of all this. They are knowingly exposing their employees to a very serious, deadly risk. If office employees are working from home, it further illustrates that these corporations are doing this with full knowledge of the danger of working in a space with multiple people (besides the obvious fact that COVID-19 has been proclaimed a global pandemic and a national, state, and local public health emergency).
Though these factories can try to say that they are operating legally under a loophole found in Holcomb’s executive order (which references an extremely broad list of “critical infrastructure” businesses from federal guidelines), they will have a hard time justifying their actions when people start getting sick and suing them under OSHA’s general duty clause and other negligence causes of action.
They further show a lack of integrity, respect, concern for the health of their employees, and hazard mitigation by their inadequate handling of employees’ questions related to the pandemic (see Facebook for numerous examples of Masterbrand’s disastrous public relations efforts – or lack thereof).
Someone must have advised these places that they can continue to operate during the pandemic, but that advice is flawed in so many ways. Masterbrand and the others are rolling the dice with the lives and health of their employees, as well as their future legal and financial situation. The bottom line is, they only care about the bottom line… and I’m sure there are hundreds of employees who could testify to that.
Praying for all of the workers who are forced to work in unsafe conditions and expose themselves and their families to a historically deadly virus.
You all are commenting about the need to know where this person worked. What you don’t realize is that behind the scenes, the people who were possibly exposed are being/have been contacted and no doubt being tested. So if you haven’t been contacted by the authorities, slow down, take a breath and continue to follow the state and county guidelines. And urge everyone you know to do the same.
If you have come in contact with a person who is diagnosed, you will be contacted.
Your place of work, worship, grocery store, etc. will let people know who are at immediate risk.
Proceed like you have it…wash your hands, practice social distancing and be kind.
Exactly. And the stay at home order from the Governor is still in effect. That’s the part most people are not paying attention to. Everyone who is not in a critical occupation needs to stay home unless they need groceries, medicine or health care.
It would be nice to see the “real” number. How are people behind the scenes saying we have way more than two positive and yet nothing is being said? And those hundreds walking around because they weren’t allowed to be tested!! So they skip and go to Vanderburgh so they will get attention!
There is no way they can track down every person they may have come into contact with for the last 14 + days, so to say you will be contacted is bull. I understand the point of the hipaa laws, but they need to weigh what could be gained by putting this information out vs what they are gaining by not telling people. Seems to me there is much more to gain by spreading knowledge.
Normally I’d agree that spreading knowledge is desirable and wise, but can you imagine the panic that would ensue? What type of information are you needing? The name of the affected person? The town he or she lives in? Where they work? Stores, restaurants and other businesses they may have been to? Even if you shopped at the same grocery store on the same day during the exact hours, chances are you wouldn’t contract the virus. It’s more likely you may have already been in close contact with someone who is asymptomatic, unless you’ve been self quarrantined for the past month. As previously said, continue with hand washing, social distancing and please stay home as ordered by the governor.