Scioto County remains on Red Health Alert Status but commissioners Cathy Coleman and Mike Crabtree have not taken COVID tests despite reports of possible exposure to the virus. On Tuesday, the commissioners canceled their meeting and announced that they had possibly been exposed to COVID during a prior meeting by a member of the press. Additionally, they reduced meetings to once a week and closed those meetings to the press and public.
Not Notified Of Exposure
According to Coleman, they learned of the exposure last week. “We actually just found out about it…Â Friday. We have not been contacted to give us a warning that we’ve been exposed.”
Despite the possible exposure, the commissioners have not self-quarantined. When asked if they had been tested for COVID-19, both Coleman and Crabtree said they had not. (Commissioner Bryan Davis left the meeting early.)
Coleman said she’d not been tested because the commissioners weren’t formally notified about an exposure. “We haven’t been formally contacted that we’ve had an exposure. We heard that a news media person was positive. We’re doubling up on precautions at this time we have not been informed that we’ve been exposed. When that comes through, we’ll certainly take the steps to do the testing.”
Crabtree said he felt fine. ” I’m not sick myself. I know when the potential for that might have been. I think it was at least two weeks ago. By the time we found out about it was more than a week.” He also said closing down meetings was a good idea due to Scioto County’s continued Red Alert COVID health status. “It is getting close and the numbers are up. What we did with the courthouse is we took a precautionary measure. We closed the meetings so that not anybody can just come walking in. Up until now, anybody could come walking into the meeting. It was a precautionary thing.”
Red Alert
Scioto County remained at a Red Alert Public Health Emergency again this week. Scioto County EMA reported 20 new cases of COVID today bringing the total number of cases in the county to 876. There have been 115 new cases reported in the past 7 days. Of those cases, 252 are still active.
According to the Scioto EMA, Level Three or “Red” means that the county is experiencing “Very High Exposure and Spread” of the COVID19 virus. Scioto County only met three (3) of the seven (7) indicators on the PHAS this week including
- New Cases per Capita
- Non-Congregate Cases
- Outpatient Visits.
Indicators that were not met by Scioto County this week included:
- New Cases Increase
- Emergency Department Visits
- Hospital Admissions
- Â ICU Bed Occupancy.
