Good Evening,
Dooly Total Positives: 106
Total Deaths: 8
Georgia Total Positives: 22,491
Georgia Death Total: 899
First, welcome all new members of our nightly email update. I will send out some guidance this weekend so you all will have it on hand. For some, this will be a repeat of information so I will send it in an email with just attachments and links so you can archive it for your records.
Now, for the sudden rise in our numbers. On April 22nd, we went in and did mass testing in Pinehill Nursing Home. The results are reflective in our numbers now. We are working with the nursing home to help them prevent further spread of the virus. We have had the National Guard come in and do a complete sanitation of the facility twice since April 10th. We have also made a few deliveries of PPE (gloves, masks, and gowns) since April 10th. I will be honest and say that once the virus gets into a long term care facility, it is very difficult to control but we are all doing everything we can to help the residents and staff. I am in constant contact with the administrator and our epidemiologists are also very much involved.
I would like to apologize for not being able to update you all this past week nightly as I have been doing. I had some issues that took up a lot of my time and I am trying to catch up on what is most important and that is to keep working to stop the spread of this virus. We are still seeing a slow down within our community numbers, and by that I am referring to our drive up testing. I am even seeing a slow down in numbers from other facility testing sites. We were about 50/50 with positives vs negatives with each day of testing. Now we are seeing more negatives than positives. I find that encouraging but I want to remind you all that we need to continue keeping our guard up an not relaxing in our efforts. We must continue to follow the guidelines such as: social distancing (keeping a 6 ft distance between yourself and others), disinfecting high traffic and highly used areas, wear a mask if you must go in public (and make sure it covers your nose and mouth), stay home as much as possible and only go out if you absolutely must, no gatherings of more than 10 people, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, and use hand sanitizer frequently. If you are sick do not go to work or out where you can infect others. This is all so important to stop the spread of this virus as much as possible. Our state government has decided to allow some businesses to open up again. There are very strict guidelines that go along with these businesses opening back up. If you choose to visit these establishments please do your research and make sure they are following the guidelines. If you don’t feel comfortable, don’t go. We are all ultimately responsible for our own health and safety.
This weekend I will be trying to get some rest and I will also be catching up on everything. I will try to send out updates this weekend if there are changes. I do get results and notify people of their results daily whether it’s the weekend or not. I know people that have been tested are anxious to get their results and would also like to return to work if they are negative. So, if you or someone you know is waiting on results please reassure them that I do call as soon as I get them and I call whether it is positive or negative. We are having some lag with the labs again but they are dealing with a greater number of testing due to our health commissioner ramping up testing within the state. Just be patient and know we are notifying as soon as we get those results.
Thank you all for your continued support. My team and I appreciate you all so very much.
God bless, stay safe, and remember….this too shall pass,
Cyndi Mercer, RN
County Nurse Manager
Dooly County Health Department
204 West Union Street
Vienna, Ga. 31092