Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department has been investigating the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Stanton County.
The man is in his 60s has no underlying health conditions. The point of exposure has no obvious origin; thus, it has been deemed community spread.
As cases continue to rise, the most important public message is that exposures are possible anytime one leaves their home. For this reason, each person must assume the personal responsibility for protecting him or herself from exposure by social distancing and staying home. Locations will no longer be listed unless a high risk exposure in a high-risk setting has been identified-such as a long-term care facility, jail, or apartment complex. Assume that COVID is present in all of our communities and conduct yourself accordingly. For this reason, the governor placed the ELVPHD district under Directed Health Measures on Sunday, March 29th.
For confirmed COVID cases, the employer and relevant co-workers are directly contacted by public health officials for directions and next steps. Other contacts, such as household members or other visitors in the home, are contacted directly by public health officials to notify them of their exposure and directions for next steps. If a patient is exposed at a healthcare facility where another COVID patient has visited, the healthcare facility will directly contact the exposed patients and staff members.
From this point forward, testing updates and results will be posted periodically by our department, but specifics on each case investigation, unless there is a large-scale exposure in a high-risk setting, will not be publicized. However, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) now provides daily updates to the state’s COVID-19 case totals via its new Data Dashboard at: http://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Coronavirus.
