During the meeting of the Pettis County Task Force on Monday, the Pettis County Health Center reported as of November 16, there are 2,719 cases of COVID-19 as compared to 2,424 cases on November 9. This is an increase of 295 cases in the past week.
The positivity rate was not available at the time of the meeting.
Due to the large number of cases the Health Center has received, they are no longer able to call all positive cases within several days of receiving the notification. The Health Center is also not receiving information from testing sites outside of the county, including CVS, in a timely manner. Therefore, anyone who receives a positive test result from the place where they are tested are to remain in isolation for 10 days from the test.
Isolation means no close contact with anyone in your household including sleeping arrangements. If you cannot remain separate, then everyone must wear a mask when within 6 feet of each other. If that is not possible, then the quarantine for household members will begin at the end of the 10 day isolation for the positive case. The Health Center will call you within the 10 day period of isolation. If you do not hear from the Health Center after 10 days, you are asked to contact the Health Center as they may not have been notified of your test result.
There will be free COVID community testing sponsored by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in conjunction with the Missouri National Guard at the Sheep Pavilion on the Missouri State Fairground from 11-5 on Friday, November 20. In order to have enough testing material, individuals need to register on line at health.mo.gov/communitytest or calling 877-435-8411. So far only 68 people have registered.
Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are going to present a significant challenge as the spread of COVID 19 continues. You are asked to consider carefully if gathering with family and friends who do not live with you is the safest plan.
If you gather together, look for ways to have social distance between family groups, try to avoid common serving spoons, make sure everyone washes hands well, open the window to improve ventilation, if Thanksgiving should be warm, consider having the gathering outside and plan to reduce contacts outside your family group for the 2 weeks before the gathering.
Not being able to have traditional holiday celebrations is going to be hard for everyone. We don’t want a family gathering to be the source of illness for family and friends, particularly those who are at high risk.