No cases does not mean no risk
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The number of positive COVID-19 test results in Iowa continues to climb and currently stands at 1,710 based on yesterday’s data. As of today, there have been no confirmed cases reported in Ringgold County.
“We are urging residents not to be complacent about following public health recommendations, just because a confirmed case has not been reported here yet,” said Ringgold County Public Health Administrator, Becky Fletchall. “It’s important to remember there is widespread community transmission across the state. This means the virus is spreading from person-to-person, and often without known contact with a positive case.”
A resident’s chance of exposure to the virus is high, regardless of contact with a confirmed case. This is why all residents are advised to stay home as much as possible, and when they must leave for essential errands like groceries or to get medication, they maintain a 6-foot distance from other individuals and avoid groups of people. This is because the risk of exposure to the virus is NOT limited to exposure to a known case; you could just as easily be exposed to an undiagnosed individual at the grocery store.
You can help prevent the spread of COVID-19:
• Stay home as much as possible.
• If you must go out for essential errands like getting groceries or prescriptions, go alone if possible and maintain social distancing.
• Practice social distancing by staying 6-feet away from other individuals. Avoid groups of more than 10 people.
• Consider wearing a cloth face covering when running essential errands to protect others in case you are infected with COVID-19 and have no symptoms, or have not yet developed symptoms.
For up-to-date information on COVID-19, visit the IDPH webpage at https://idph.iowa.gov/Emerging-Health-Issues/Novel-Coronavirus and follow the department on Facebook at @IowaDepartmentOfPublicHealth and on Twitter at @IAPublicHealth.
