Scioto County leaders took care of business despite the COVID-19 shutdown on Tuesday. The County Commissioners say the mandated six feet apart in their meeting room at the Courthouse. Each wore a brightly colored t-shirt that read, Pray, Comfort, Encourage, Trust God on the front and ‘We’ll not only survive but thrive‘ on the back.
Commissioner Bryan Davis kicked off the meeting by saying, “Hear these words today. Put them into practice.”
Commissioners Davis, Mike Crabtree, and Cathy Coleman then got down to business and had Scioto County Health Commissioner Mike Martin speak about the pandemic. They also addressed the COVID-19 shutdown’s effect on court dates and the election. Here are the important takeaways:
Testing Is Backed Up
Dr. Martin said that there is a slow turnaround on COVID-19 testing in the county. Here are the stats so far:
- 330 tests performed
- 195 negative
- 1 positive – but that was in Pike County
- 0 confirmed cases in Scioto County
Dr. Martin said not to allow the lack of cases in the county to cause a false sense of security. “It’s just a matter of time before we get a few cases ourselves.”
So far, Scioto County sends its tests to private testing firm LabCorp. The turnaround on tests has been as long as 14 days. “We are testing. Testing is limited. We just don’t have that capability. We are trying to test appropriate individuals who are very sick. There’s nothing I can do about it. The CDC is working on it. We’re ramping up as best we can.”
When asked why the county continues to send tests to private labs when Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton and Governor Mike DeWine have called on hospitals to send tests to the Ohio Department of Health for a same-day turnaround, Martin said that’s not as simple as it seems.
“ODH has not relaxed their rules as to what samples they will take, we can’t send samples up there unless they relax their criteria.”
He said that there is hope that soon there may be an antibodies test to see who might have already caught the virus and recovered. That is complicated as well. “Eventually, we’ll be able to do antibodies test. there are nine different kinds of Coronaviruses. It’s not that simple.”
Keep Your Distance
According to Dr. Martin, the key to stopping the outbreak is simple, “We have powerful tools. Staying at home. Social distancing. Washing your hands. As long as we use that we’ll have a very low number of cases in our area.”
He pointed out that other states are seeing much more activity. “Michigan has 6500 cases now. They are a smaller state.”
Martin credited Governor DeWine’s lockdown with slowing the spread of the virus. He warned the more cases are coming. “The hospital is preparing for a surge. We’re expecting a peak at the end of April. A few weeks later we’ll have a peak in hospitalization. We’re talking 6,000, 8,000 cases a day. If we hadn’t taken the precautions, we’d have that many cases now.”
It’s the Fever
Commissioner Bryan Davis asked Dr. Martin the best way to differentiate allergy and flu symptoms fro COVID-19 symptoms.
Martin said that a fever is the number one symptom of Coronavirus. He said to also watch out for a dry cough. If you suspect you might be ill, call the SOMC COVID-19 hotline at (740) 356-CARE.
Vote By Mail
Here’s what you need to know about how to vote in the primary election. In-person voting was shut down by order of ODH back on March 17
- All voting will be by mail
- You can get a ballot request by calling your local board of elections or printing one off online.
- Mail the ballot request and wait to receive your ballot.
- Mail the ballot back to the Board of Elections.
- All ballots must be postmarked by April 27.
Commissioner Bryan Davis says he’s heard many complaints about no in-person voting. “Decisions are made in Columbus. We’re following what we’re being given. Is it easy? No. Is it cumbersome? Yes. I feel if a person really wants to vote they’ll go through that process.”
We’ll See How it Goes
Commissioner Bryan Davis was cautiously optimistic that those who had been issued a summons instead of being taken to jail would show up for their day in court.
The Scioto County Jail and other facilities aren’t accepting non-violent criminals these days due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Davis said that the question was better directed towards Adult Probation or the Courts. “I believe everyone was given a 30-day summons to appear. We’re just gonna have to watch and see what happens. There’s no way to anticipate. People need to meet their court day. We’ll see how that goes.”