March 31st 2020 – 5:00 PM
Gordon County Government –
The numbers released by the Department of Public Health (DPH) as of today at noon confirm 3,817 positive cases now in Georgia which is up from 3,028 last night at 7 p.m. Deaths in the state of Georgia went from 100 cases at 7 p.m. up to 108 today at noon.
As for Gordon County, per the DPH, we are now at sixteen confirmed positive cases and one death as of today’s noon report. AdventHealth Gordon numbers reported today to Gordon County Emergency Management for cases tested at their facility are as follows:
six positive results, thirty-six negative results, and twenty pending results. Just as a reminder, DPH cases are assigned to each county by the address of the resident, not where they were tested. Also, this is all the information that has been shared with Gordon County as due to HIPPA laws we do not know the names of any patients or fatalities.
We also want to take this time to let our citizens know that Gordon County, Calhoun, and leadership and public safety from all municipalities continue to work alongside each other to address issues relevant to COVID-19 within our community. Today we held the fifth meeting via web conference of the Calhoun-Gordon County COVID-19 Pandemic Task Force comprised of all local governments, state government, public safety agencies, schools, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, public health, churches, non-profit organizations, and our hospital. These weekly meetings serve as tools to make sure we are all collaborating together to stay up to date on our current situation as well as that around our nation.
We also want our community to know that while these meetings are weekly we are working daily together to combat this virus here in Gordon County and taking steps to make sure we are prepared for different scenarios that could present themselves. Our focus is on social distancing as evidenced by the joint resolution between the county and all municipalities last week. We need our citizens to heed these directives to assist in keeping us all safer as well as doing the small things like covering your cough and washing your hands. The best-case scenario is that by practicing these things we are able to keep our numbers here in Gordon County at a lower count than some of our surrounding communities.
We are all working hard on keeping the best-case scenario in play at the same time we assure the public that we are planning for a more worst-case scenario if necessary. Plans are in place and have been reviewed and updated that would address issues that we would face in this type of scenario to include surge capacity plans for our hospital, alternative care site plans if we must offer medical care in other locations, as well as casualty plans. These plans were all created in hopes that we never have to use them but they are in place and ready to be enacted if the need arises.
We have approached this by trying to get information out to our public that would not cause fear and panic but instead would urge our citizens to be mindful of their surroundings and use common sense precautions to prevent the spread of all infectious diseases including COVID-19. Some of these steps are:
- Stay at home if at all possible.
- Avoid gatherings of more than 10 people and practice social distancing by maintaining 6 feet of physical separation from others at all times.
- Wash your hands frequently with soap and warm 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 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.
We will continue to work diligently to be prepared to protect our citizens and visitors no matter the threat we are faced with. We continue to ask for your prayers for our community, our state, and our nation.
