A 25th person has tested positive for COVID-19 in Dare County, according to today’s Dare Co. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard.
This individual is a female resident of Dare County who is between the ages of 25 and 49 and is in isolation at home, according to dashboard data.
This young woman’s case brings the total number of active COVID-19 cases in Dare County to three. The two others have had active cases for more than three weeks: One is in isolation in a hospital; the other is in home isolation. (See The Beacon, 6/3/20.)
Overall, 19 Dare County residents and six non-residents have tested positive for COVID-19 in Dare County.
Dr. Sheila Davies, the director of the DCDHHS, provides videotaped updates about COVID-19 locally on the health department’s website every Tuesday. The Beacon anticipates that Dr. Davies will provide more details next Tuesday about the two people who tested positive this week—as well as others who may test positive in the interim.
As more people arrive on the Outer Banks for vacations, and more interaction occurs among people who are not members of the same household, it becomes even more important for people to observe infection-control measures such as distancing themselves by six feet from others and wearing face coverings.
Please observe the three W’s of wash your hands frequently; wait six feet; and wear a face covering.
Reducing COVID-19 transmission is so simple to accomplish that the State of North Carolina has reduced the process to monosyllabic words that a kindergartener can understand.
And yet, I find myself often walking into a store and walking right out again because people don’t care about waiting and wearing. Even employees aren’t taking precautions.
Those people who are throwing caution to the wind should understand that the damage this new coronavirus can cause is not yet fully known.
Contrary to what too many people say, it is not a “bad cold” or “another flu.” It is a distinct strain of coronavirus–not an influenza virus–that does not have a sufficient enough history yet for a person to fully evaluate the risks it presents.
ANN G. SJOERDSMA, 6/4/20
The Southern Shores Beacon 