WASHINGTON COUNTY E.O.C. ASKS FOR PUBLIC HELP COVID PANDEMIC NUMBERS NEED REPORTED

The Emergency Operations Center group is asking for the public’s help in tracking positive case numbers in Washington County.

Shawnee Douglas, Washington County Health Department Administrator, said on Monday, Feb. 7th that, “we need people to tell us if they have gotten positive Covid tests from at home testing. It’s the only way we can hope to keep up with an accurate number and have viable reporting for out numbers. We don’t want people to feel like we’re trying to invade their privacy, but we do want to help if medical treatment may be needed or more information needs to be passed along to people with positive cases.”

Justin Duncan, at the Washington County Ambulance District, has been working on an easy way for the public to be able to report positive cases. Duncan said, “We’ve established an online form that asks for the most basic and simple information so that we can keep a more accurate count on how we are all doing as a County. We’ve a online address and a ‘qr code’ for scanning so it couldn’t be much easier. If our residents want to talk to someone after testing positive they’re welcome to call the W.C. Health Department and get more information and maybe help, if they feel the need.”

The E.O.C. continues to meet and work on addressing the issues of testing, as well as positive numbers and reminding people to use their best choices for staying healthy.

Shawnee Douglas, W.C.H.D., said, “We are still facing a lot of challenges with the current Covid cases. The numbers this week (Feb. 8th, 2022) won’t be a very good representation as we didn’t have testing stations because of the ice and snow storm. Most all testing was closed down on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week. We’ll look good by the numbers but it won’t be very realistic as the tests were down. I do hope the break from schools and people staying home will help. We still need people to be cautious around others and be considerate for the general public if you aren’t feeling well. We still promote washing hands, keeping a safe social distance and staying home if sick. It’s the best we can do right now.”

The E.O.C. group is hopeful that the online reporting will help gather useful information to be added to the testing being done at the Ambulance Headquarters, Great Mines, Hospital and Health Department.

The other asset that the online reporting may have is if individuals aren’t sure what they should do, might do, they can be contacted by the Health Department with follow up information and assistance.

The address for local information is https://washco-covid19.com and the online reporting form for positive cases is https://washco-covid19.com/self-reporting/ or you can use the QR code.